


The Scarlet Speedster: Rewrite

by StannisIsTheOneTrueKing



Series: The Scarlet Speedster Series [3]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Karry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:42:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26758933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StannisIsTheOneTrueKing/pseuds/StannisIsTheOneTrueKing
Summary: Rewrite of the old Scarlet Speedster, Barry and Kara, two heroes from two worlds, can they bridge the gap and find love?
Relationships: Barry Allen/Kara Danvers
Series: The Scarlet Speedster Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/629576
Kudos: 23





	1. World's Finest

Barry sped towards the field, doing his utmost to beat Kara there. This was it, he was finally going home after a few days here on yet another Earth. He loved the people here, especially Kara, the adorable and nerdy assistant for Cat Grant who had done all she could to help him get home, but he was needed back home if Zoom was ever going to be stopped. He could stop Zoom, now he had the Tachyon cannon, Zoom would stand no chance against his increased speeds.

Kara flew down just as Barry arrived and fixed him with one of her patented dazzling smiles.

'I swear, it's like she purposefully makes them extra happy to cheer everyone up.' Barry thought, admiring Kara and thinking. 'You know, she's actually kind of cute, I can see why Olsen likes her so much.' Before shaking his head to dispel the thoughts.

‘What am I thinking? Come on Barry, it’s not like you’ll see her ever again.’

You really think this is gonna work?" Kara asked Barry, eyebrows crinkling as she did.

"Well, watching Livewire and Banshee work together reminded me of something we tried on my Earth once. You and I combine forces, literally. We combine my speed with your speed and if you throw me forward at your fastest, I might just break the dimensional barrier and get back home." Barry said, looking at Kara with determination in his eyes.

"What do you mean, like, a race?" Kara smirked as Barry smiled and shrugged his shoulders, looking away so he wouldn't be caught up in her eyes again. Her sparkling, gorgeous eyes.

'Where did that thought come from?' Barry thought before trying to dismiss it again.

"Yeah I guess." Barry said as Kara began to laugh, hands on her hips.

She shook her head and looked into the distance as she laughed, Barry staring at her natural radiance and joy.

'Wow, I must be losing it.' Barry thought, transfixed at the sight of this beautiful alien.

"Think you can keep up, Girl of Steel?" Barry asked in a teasing tone, grinning at Kara like an idiot.

"Oh ho, just you watch, Scarlet Speedster." Kara replied with a grin as she approached him.

"I'm really gonna miss you Barry Allen." Kara said to Barry with a look of pensiveness of her face as Barry stared at her again.

"I'm really gonna miss you too Kara Danvers. Or Kara Zor El, which is your alien name, 'cause you're an alien, which I think is really cool." Barry said with a smile as Kara broke out into laughter as he said it.

'Why is he so adorable?' Kara thought to herself, as she geared up ready to race him. 'Adorable? Wait? Where did that come from?' Kara asked herself. 'I like James…don't I?'

"I think James Olsen thinks so too." Barry said with a knowing look and a trace of regret in his voice. Kara pretended not to pick up on it and laughed again.

‘Though if he had a hint of regret in his voice just then….No, I can’t think like that, what would Barry even see in me? I’m dorky as can be.’ Kara thought to herself.

"What makes you say that?" She stated, trying to pretend that she didn't notice James had the same feelings for her that she did for him. Or that she thought she did, at any rate.

"You remember before when I told you take things slow? That's good advice, for a superhero. The opposite advice for two people who really like each other. Maybe it's time to speed things up." Barry said, hoping Kara would go after James and he could rid himself of these feelings he'd developed other the last few days for the Kryptonian who had taken his breath away.

"Maybe." Kara mysteriously replied, thinking whether she should take the plunge or not with Barry or James.

Barry ventured closer to Kara as Kara opened her arms, the two of them going for the hug.

"Come here." Kara laughed as they embraced one another in the hug, as they started to break away, Barry was struck by a sudden inspiration and, gently taking Kara's head in his hands, he leaned forward and planted a kiss on Supergirl's lips.

Kara froze for an instant, caught off guard, before returning the kiss herself, wanting to explore every inch of Barry's mouth, her lips parted as his tongue found its way inside her mouth and battled her own tongue for dominance of the Kryptonian's mouth. After a few minutes of this, they broke apart, both of them breathless.

"Wow…" Kara muttered in a daze as Barry looked at her, also stunned by what he had done and how good it felt for him.

‘Can I let him leave after that?’ Kara asked herself, not realising that Barry was asking himself as to whether he could really leave her behind after what he had just done.

"Alright." Barry said, preparing the Tachyon enhancer. "Let's do this. On your marks."

"Get set." Kara said, trying to keep the blush off of her face.

"GO!" Barry said as the two of them raced as fast as they could to generate the speed needed for Barry to break back through into Earth-One. They raced across hills, smiling at one another until finally, the breach started to open and with one hand, Kara lifted Barry and flung him forward, through the breach and back into his own universe.

"Goodbye Barry." Kara said, looking towards where the Scarlet Speedster had just disappeared. She just knew one day that she'd see him again. She also thought that Barry may have just proved to her who she would rather be with, him or James. She'd feel like a jerk, but she would just have to settle for James with Barry gone from her world.

Barry arrived on his Earth and started running back towards S.T.A.R Labs, thinking the entire time as he ran with a bright red blush on his face.

'I'm going to miss you, Kara Danvers. At least now I think I've earned the nickname of The Scarlet Speedster.'


	2. Medusa

Kara sat at the dinner table, looking forward to this Thanksgiving dinner, hoping it would take her mind off of the latest developments in her love life, with seemingly every man her age interested in her, when some weird thing appeared on her table, flashed for a second, then vanished from view.

‘What was that?’ Kara asked herself, looking around and seeing the confusion on Alex’s face as well at it.

The next disturbance came at L-Corp, with the Cadmus attack, when Hank Henshaw had Supergirl in his grasp, kicking her across the room like a football, determined to kill the Maid of Might.

“Nobody is coming to save you.” Henshaw taunted as he clenched his hand tighter around Supergirl’s throat, ignoring the NCPD officers shooting at him, deflecting their bullets with ease. As Kara could feel herself struggling to breathe, suddenly another blue glow opened above them, shocking Henshaw, and allowing Kara to break free of his grasp once again.

‘That looked like the portal thing Barry ran through last year.’ Kara thought to herself. ‘Could it be him?’ She secretly hoped it was him, she could certainly do with an assist from a fellow superhero right about now with Henshaw and Cadmus. ‘Rao, I need to get him out of my head, he’s probably never going to be coming back here.’ Kara thought to herself, sadly, giving herself a shake. She had to focus entirely on her duties.

Later at the DEO, she spoke to Mon-El about what had happened, when he suddenly kissed her, and suddenly, she was kissing him back, all thoughts of any lingering feelings for James, any thoughts of Cadmus or Catco, and especially any thoughts of Barry Allen were driven from her mind as she felt Mon-El’s lips on hers. She considered what could be with him, someone who knew the deep loss in her life, felt it like she had. They had both lost their entire worlds, when Krypton and Daxam fell, with Mon-El, she could be with someone who understood what it was to lose everything they ever knew. Once Cadmus had been beaten back with help from Lena Luthor, Kara confronted Mon-El to discuss what had happened with the kiss.

"So, are we, are we gonna talk about what happened?" She asked him tentatively.

"Yes, Yes, I want to hear all about how you chased that missile down." He replied with a smile.

"No, I mean are we going to talk about what happened between us, while you were dying."

"What, what happened, what did I do?" Mon-El asked with a frown.

They looked at one another, speechless for a few moments, before Kara finally bottled the courage to admit aloud what had happened, thinking over the kiss with him, as well as her kisses with Barry and James. Especially the one with Barry.

"You drooled." She replied, with a fake smile.

They laughed for a moment before she left the room, Mon-El staring after her, regretting his choice of words and wishing Kara had brought the matter up. He knew what she meant, how could he not, and he had to admit, it hurt a little that she hadn’t decided to press him on the issue.

All was quiet in Kara's home the next day, until the silence was interrupted by a flower pot shaking by itself, before suddenly another breach opened in the air above the counter, and out from it jumped two men, one wearing gloves and a visor, the other in a hoodie in jeans. These two men were Cisco Ramone and Barry Allen.

"This better be the right place." Cisco stated, taking of his visor and raising his hand in the air slightly.

"It is." Barry muttered as he took in the sight of it all.

"Because if this isn't the right place, someone is about to be real confused." Cisco said, looking around as Barry did.

Suddenly behind them the front door opened and Kara walked into the apartment, seeing Barry, she gasped.

'Oh Rao, he's back.' She thought as she drunk in the appearance of the Scarlet Speedster once again.

"Barry!" She cried at the sight of him, Barry meekly raising his hand and replying "Hey."

'Wow she looks amazing.' Barry thought as he saw her surprise, it had been months since he last saw Kara, and she still looked as perfect to him now as the first time he had saw her. He was over her, wasn't he? He'd tried to make something work with Iris, but now Kara was here as well.

"I knew it! I knew that was you and that weird, space...Portal thing." Kara cried as she set her shopping down and embraced him once more.

"Sorry, it took a couple of tries to get here. This is my friend, Cisco." Barry said, gesturing towards Cisco as they broke apart their hug.

'I wish he/she hadn't let go.' The thought crossed both of their minds at the same time as they broke away.

"Well, friend is a loose term, we work together, Hi, I'm Cisco, I have to say, this, is a nice universe you got here." Cisco said as he shook Kara's hand and looked around the apartment some more, his frostiness with Barry's hand in Dante's death still fresh with him.

"Thank you." Kara smiled as she looked towards Barry once again, noticing a sour look flicker across his face at Cisco’s words. She remembered him discussing this Cisco last year, what had happened to the two of them since then? Clearly they were at odds.

"Hey, remember last year when I helped you out and you promised to do the same for me?" Barry asked as Kara nodded to him.

"What are we up against?" Kara asked, dreading to know what could be powerful enough to take on even the Flash and make him come running.


	3. Invasion! Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Invasion! begins.

'This is just my luck.' Barry thought to himself with a huff. First Cisco is still mad at him for not knowing about the timeline changes killing Dante, then he can't save Dante because Jay Garrick showed him how he'd further screw up the timeline, and now, when he's dealing with Alchemy, Kid Flash and Savitar, Aliens of all things decide to show up.

'I could really do with an alien ally of my own.' He wistfully thought to himself, wondering what Kara was doing now in her own universe. 'Probably having a good time with James Olsen.' Barry frowned.

He spoke with Lyla, who told him and the team all about the history of these "Dominators" before he headed to Star City to get the help of Oliver and his friends. He'd need all hands on deck if he was going to come through with this. Once they'd agreed to join, it was back to Central City and Cisco had agreed to help him vibe his way back to Earth-38 and to meet Kara once again, if this was to be a fight against aliens, he'd rather have his own alien to even out the score a little.

Barry waited outside with Cisco, Felicity and the rest for the _Wave Rider_ to appear. Felicity said she'd sent a message to them to come back to 2016 and help with this threat, and Barry hoped they would show up, they'd need everyone. As the ship appeared in the sky above them Barry heard Dig muttering about never doing drugs because of stuff like this and had to suppress a small grin from his face.

"Take everybody inside alright? And tell Oliver I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?"

"Well since we'll be fighting aliens I figured we should get one of our own, right?" Barry smirked as he bade farewell to Felicity and went with Cisco to go and collect Kara.

“What are we up against?” Kara asked, as Barry and Cisco explained, before she rushed into action.

Barry waited as Kara whizzed around her apartment to get her suit on, before Cisco began to once again vibe his way back to Earth-1, once the portal was open, they stepped through into the hangar, seeing Felicity taking rollcall of who was there.

"That was cool." Kara exclaimed as they stepped into the hangar, taking in the sight of a whole new universe.

"Guys! Thanks for coming!" Barry said as he rounded up everyone ready to set off.

"Barry, I thought you were bringing an alien." Oliver said, arms crossed as he surveyed the scene and waited to find out more on how to take down this latest threat. Who was this woman, where did Barry get her from?

"Yeah, we did, everybody this is my friend, Kara Danvers, or as she's known on her Earth…Supergirl." Barry said, gesturing to Kara as he did so.

'She looks as amazing now as ever and I really hope everyone likes her.' Barry thought as he did this.

"What makes her so super?" Jax asked before Kara floated into the air and charred the House of El coat of arms onto the floor with her laser vision.

"I'm convinced." Diggle replied as Kara floated down again with a grin.

'I really hope I impressed Barry's friends.' Kara thought to herself. 'Wait, why would I want to impress them? We're only meeting this one time, I think.' Kara thought on that herself, whether or not she'd ever see these people again after this, and if so, in what capacity? As an occasional helping friend or as Barry's girlfriend and partner? She hoped if this was to be more than a one time meet, it would eventually be as the latter she was known, then cursed herself for thinking it. What about Mon-El back home?

Barry watched as Kara was introduced to everyone else and Iris came up to him.

"So, Barry, Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow?"

"Yeah." Barry affirmed, looking weirdly at her.

"Oh my god, he just got so much hotter."

Barry rolled his eyes and moved away as he muttered "Oh my god." To Iris' antics. He knew she was teasing and she liked him, but what he didn't know is whether he liked her as much, especially with Kara being here.

Barry introduced the team to the idea of the Dominators before Kara provided some exposition, revealing that they'd been to the Krypton of her universe once, and attacked it in their quest for more knowledge.

'Never knew she'd heard of alien invasions by these sort of guys before.' Barry thought to himself. 'Maybe Kara knows how to defeat them.'

Oliver suggested Kara to be a stand-in during team training against them, before Mick and Jax suggested that maybe they should nominate an overall leader for the expedition first, Oliver volunteering Barry as the one who brought them all together, before telling Barry how to lead the team himself.

As the team went to get suited to battle Kara, Barry pulled Oliver and Kara back to quickly introduce them to one another, with Kara hitting Barry with one of her patented grins, which made Barry blush slightly as he looked at her.

'Don't get distracted now Allen.' Barry told himself. 'World to save, remember?'

He explained to Kara about how Oliver trained him before Oliver scared Kara with the "I shot Barry and you can't hold back at all" speech.

Barry walked off to speak to Cisco, finding him speaking about tech improvements with Ray, at the sight of Barry though, Cisco bolted and Barry went to ask Ray about where Lenard Snart was, Captain Cold apparently not with the rest of the Legends.

"What happened?" Barry knew what had happened, just from the looks on their faces, he knew what had gone down.

"He sacrificed himself. Saved us all. He died a hero."

"A legend." Barry trailed off sadly, staring off with tears in his eyes as Wally showed up and began to argue with Iris about whether he could join in.

Barry suited up himself to get ready to go fight against Kara before Oliver and he were approached by Stein and Jax about a message they'd received.

'What could they possibly have for me alone?' Barry thought as they led him away.

"A war is coming, Captain Hunter, and at some point you're going to be called back to fight it. So you need to know that while you and your team have been in the temporal zone I made a choice that affected the timeline. As you know, when you alter the past, those changes affect the present and get compounded in the future. When you return, you will be in a new timeline that I created, where everyone's past and everyone's future has been affected. Including yours. When you come back, don't trust anything or anyone, not even me." Barry listened to the recording of his future self with Oliver, before trying to explain what he did and why, and how this affected everyone.

Oliver and Jax argued about whether or not to tell everyone, with Oliver advocating the team wait until after the threat is over, to not distract them.

‘I just know this is going to go sideways somehow.’ Barry thought as they headed back towards the others.


	4. Invasion! Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Invasion! continues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not added chapter notes to this fic, other than this one, on FFN or here, so if you want to know why something has changed from canon, check the original, I'll have almost certainly explained it there.

"You made a mistake Barry, its part of the job. We can't deal with it today." Oliver said as they got ready to head back out to meet the team. Barry was glad for his support here, he knew he'd screwed up, and it wasn't like Caitlin and Cisco didn't give him enough hell over it already, at least Ollie understood what he was thinking and sympathised with him. At least someone could understand what Barry was going through with all of this.

They walked out of the trailer to see Kara had finished everyone off and they were all rolling on the ground. Oliver called for everyone to get up as Sara commented on how hot Kara was, Kara blushing at it.

'I wish Barry thought that too.' Kara thought with a pout, looking towards the Scarlet Speedster, who seemed absorbed in his own thoughts.

'Sara's right, Kara is hot, she always looks perfect.' Barry thought to himself as he tried to get his head back into the game of taking the fight to the Dominators. The words he had heard himself say though continued to haunt him, he needed to focus on the task at hand, he could worry about the threat of Flashpoint and Savitar once it was all over.

Barry watched as everyone walked off yet another beating from Kara, who seemed reluctant to go on when all she was doing was hurting the rest of the team, before Cisco pulled Barry aside and asked whether or not he'd told everyone about Flashpoint yet.

"I'm gonna tell them, yeah, when this is finished." Barry said lamely. He would tell them, they deserved to know what he had done, how he had affected all of their lives, but this really wasn’t the time to be unloading on them all, not when they needed to focus.

"When this is finished…even though you're about to lead them through an alien war, even after Flashpoint, after everything you've messed up, all the lives you've changed?! You still don't think you should tell them?!" Cisco shouted, drawing the attention of the others to Barry and Cisco.

"Tell us what?" Sara asked, as Cisco gestured for Barry to go on.

'Oh fucking hell, thanks for this Cisco, just what we needed right now.' Barry thought as Oliver looked at him with a grim look as if to say 'Just get this over with.'

"Jax and Professor Stein found a message from me, in the future, saying right now I can't be trusted."

"Why would future you say that?" Sara asked, confusion written across her face.

"I think, because I went back in time and changed the timeline, and now things here are different from before I left. Including some of your lives." Barry said with a sigh.

"Some of our lives? Like who?" Kara asked with a confused look, Barry refusing to meet her eyes, not wanting to see a look of hurt or betrayal in those beautiful orbs.

"Cisco, Caitlin, Wally, Dig." Barry said with a frown.

"How did you change all those lives?" Ray asked, fixing Barry with a frown, they'd been fighting time aberration's for months and now Barry was suddenly one?

"Cisco's brother, Dante, he was still alive in the old timeline. Caitlin didn't have the powers of Killer Frost either. In the universe I created when I stopped Eobard Thawne killing my mother, Wally was the Flash, not me, and Diggle, baby John was baby Sara. I'm not even sure how that one ended up changing…" Barry trailed off.

"So, you just erased a daughter from my life?" Diggle asked, looking angrily at Barry.

"Hey, not on purpose!" Barry defended himself. "I'm not even sure how changing the timeline affected the gender of your baby, since I was DEFINITELY not directly involved within that in any form."

"You still did it Barry!" Cisco called out, venting his frustrations as well.

"It's not like I knew what would happen when Flashpoint was reset, did I?" Barry sounded hurt. "I didn't intentionally screw up anyone's life. I wanted to make mine better, I'd just became an orphan, didn't I deserve a little happiness or does it always have to be me who makes the sacrifices?" Barry asked, looking around and seeing Cisco refusing to meet his eyes all of a sudden. The others looked at Barry sadly, the Legends especially feeling bad for what they had said to him.

"I stopped Thawne, lived for a few months happily with my parents, Cisco, you were rich, Caitlin didn't know any of us, Wally and Iris didn't know me and were the Flash team, I could have left you all to it and stayed happy, but I realised I needed to become the Flash again and change it all, and you know what that involved? I had to release Eobard and then literally BEG Thawne to kill my mother." Barry felt himself tearing up but it was time to get all of this off of his chest, forget what the rest of them wanted, it was time that maybe he should just look out for himself.

Barry saw some of the others look at him with pity as the red mist descended and he had to finish off his tirade.

“So I finally deal with all that to find out all these little changes have occurred, and when I'm finally coping with all of that, along comes Alchemy, who gives everyone who had powers in Flashpoint these powers again, including Wally, which is why there is now a second speedster in Central City, oh and it turns out, he's not even the threat as he's working for a guy named Savitar, who, get this, is MADE OF METAL, RUNS SO FAST HE LOOKS LIKE LIGHTNING TO ME, AND IS THE GOD OF SPEED! How am I meant to defeat the God of Speed? Anyone!?" Barry raged as the others winced, it sounded like a bad break for Barry all around here.

“Savitar apparently has deemed me worthy of being a threat to personally crush, but when I can only see him when he's stood still, and even then he's still too fast for non-speedsters to see, I'm really truly screwed against this guy, I mean, I fought him, and had Caitlin not used her powers against him in the nick of time, today would have been my funeral and to top it all off, bloody alien invasion and goddamn Cisco can't wait until after we've dealt with this to drop this bomb on you all." Barry finished venting to see the sheepish looks on the faces of some of the others. They all had their own problems, and in light of that, they'd tried to think Barry had none of his own and he was just being selfish.

"I'm sorry, Barry." Ray said before Sara repeated the sentiment.

Kara's eyes widened as she listened to her friend's tirade. She knew it'd be bad, but not just how bad. Cadmus has been neutered for now and she knew Kal could handle Hank Henshaw if needed, perhaps she'd stay on Earth-1 for a bit after the Dominator's were taken care of, see if she couldn't stop this Savitar with Barry.


	5. Invasion! Part III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dominators VS Heroes

Barry watched as everyone else got ready to head off to go and rescue the President. Despite some home truths being revealed, many of the team didn't feel too comfortable with Barry at the moment, especially with what his future self has said in his message, and certain elements believed it would be better without Barry being there.

As they got ready to head off, Barry pulled Kara aside, a look of hurt on his face.

"You still trust me, right?" Barry couldn't bear to think that Kara of all people couldn't trust him, if she had lost her faith in him, Barry realised, then he didn't know if he'd have the strength to go on fighting. Would it be worth it, to fight for a world, for a team that had turned on him before, if he didn’t have at least her in his corner?

"I'll always trust you." Kara firmly stated, seeing the worry in his eyes. "It might take a bit more to convince them." She trailed off. Barry would always have her back, she knew that, and so she'd always have his. If she couldn't rely on her favourite speedster, and he couldn't rely on her, who could they depend upon?

Of course, Oliver disagreed, and had stated he wouldn't be going if Barry wasn't also in the team. Barry was relieved to have Oliver on his side with that. He felt bad for not visiting Star City as much as he could have done in the past few years.

"Then you'll be here, Oliver." Diggle stated. Sure, he was sorry for the stuff Barry had been through, and if he thought more on it, then he'd apologise for acting so rashly, but Barry had changed his child's gender through his actions, and Diggle wanted a daughter to spoil.

Kara looked around as she landed behind the rest of the team, the coast looked clear enough, no perimeter Dominators, the President was inside the building, and everyone looked ready to go. At least they were until Mick Rory of everyone started questioning her about her X-Ray vision and asking if she could check everyone out where they were.

'I wish I had Barry here to help smack some sense into this guy.' Kara thought as Sara told her to ignore Rory.

They walked into the warehouse, to see the President, hands cuffed in front of him, wandering about.

"Get me out of here!" He called as the heroes approached, remarking on how easy this seemed.

Suddenly, a Dominator appeared, startling them. Kara told it to release the President and they could talk, before it stated they did not want him and vaporised the President.

"It's a trap!" Diggle yelled before the Dominator placed its hand on a red crystal it had with it, suddenly a red mist descended down onto the team, attacking each of them, a symbol burning into their heads.

"Supergirl! Do something!" Mick yelled as Kara herself was knocked over by the force of the mental attack. She could feel herself slipping away, her conscious mind being replaced by a desire to attack and to harm all who stood in the way of achieving her aim.

As the team went to find the President, Oliver was taken back to Central City by Barry, back to S.T.A.R labs, where Barry showed him Thawne's Time Vault.

"What is this?" Oliver asked, looking at the Time Vault

"This is, an article from the future, a story about me vanishing. It used to be written by Iris West-Allen. But now, I don't know, something's changed about Iris, something's changed in our future." Barry stated forlornly. "God, what did I do?" he whispers, sounding devastated.

'Maybe it's something bad, but maybe it's something else.' Barry thought to himself, a woman in red and blue flashing across his mind for a moment.

"Barry, this is a weird looking newspaper article, it doesn't mean anything, you need, you need to stop beating yourself up over this." Oliver firmly stated, knowing beyond a doubt that this was a natural thing to have done, had he had the powers that Barry does, of course he'd do the exact same thing! Who wouldn't change the past to save their loved ones if they could? The rest of the team needed to realise this, Barry did this act that anyone would, he realised what it cost and tried to fix his mistakes. Nobody had any right to be angry at Barry for that in Oliver's mind.

Oliver informed Barry of what happened when the Queen's Gambit went down and how his father killed himself to save Oliver's life, with Oliver telling Barry that he isn't a God and can't save everyone.

Suddenly, an explosion from outside and Cisco's voice called them both out of their bonding session and to the disaster outside, where it appeared they were being attacked by their own team.

"Oh, things just got so much worse." Barry trailed off, seeing the team attacking S.T.A.R labs.

"Guys, can we talk about this?" Barry asked before they began to attack Oliver and himself.

"Guess not." Oliver replied before Sara threw a throwing star at them.

Looking up, and seeing Kara as one of the attackers, Barry felt his heart slide into his stomach. 'I can't hurt her, I don't know if anything I do WOULD hurt her, but if it does, I don't think I can hurt her.' Barry thought to himself.

Barry suddenly felt himself blasted through the air and realised it was Kara that had attacked him. He raced to grab Oliver and run behind the S.T.A.R labs sign. He couldn't attack her, even though it seemed she had no qualms against attacking him for the moment.

Barry quickly sped away, knocking down Diggle before heading onto the roof of S.T.A.R, followed by Firestorm, Ray and Kara, as they all prepared to attack him again, he charged up a spin and fired off a blast at them all, knocking Ray and Firestorm down, with Kara barely noticing as she used her heat vision against Barry.

'Damn, if this wasn't looking like a possible fight to the death, I'd be impressed.' Barry thought just before he was blasted off the roof by the heat vision and hit the floor.

'I'll feel that in the morning.' He cringed as he saw Sara and Diggle fighting Oliver in front of him. As Barry went to get up he saw Sara, Thea and Diggle approaching him, weapons ready as he lay on the ground, before a streak of yellow passed behind them and sent them all flying, when Wally West stood before him, offering Barry a smile.

"Wally?" Barry asked in shock.

"Kid Flash." Wally replied with a grin, before being thrown through the air himself as Supergirl delivered a punch to his chest, sending him careening beyond Barry and hitting a wall, knocking him out. Barry zoomed over to him as Oliver landed, they found out about the signal in the salt mine, with Barry telling Oliver to get to cover.

"If they can't shut it down, maybe she can." Barry stated with a nod in Kara's direction, who hovered before them, ready to release another blast.

'Hopefully she won't hurt herself taking it out though, or hurt me either.' Barry thought as he quickly devised a plan for using Supergirl's strength to take the signal out.

"Hey Supergirl!" Barry called as Kara fixed him with a stare. "Let's finally see who's faster!" Barry called before speeding away, Kara quickly on his tail.

They raced through the city, Barry dodging several heat vision blasts as he led her to the salt mine, determined to snap her and the others out of it.

"Too slow." He remarked with a smirk as she once again missed him, chasing him throughout the salt mine and smashing into columns, destroying the support structure of the building. With every miss she'd get angrier with him and more reckless, just what Barry needed if he was going to bring the place down and hopefully crush whatever was making the signal.

Barry stood in front of the machine he knew has to be causing it and stared off against Kara for several moments, before she threw herself at him with a burst of speed, passing straight through the air as he vibrated to the side of her, she smashed through the machine and the red mist rose in the air for several moments before disappearing into nothing.

Kara looked around as the symbol on her head vanished, and she saw she was stood in an old building with only Barry before her.

"Barry?" Kara asked with a confused look, wondering how she had got there and what had happened.

'The last thing I remember was just pain, and a red mist. How did I get here? Why is Barry here? I didn't hurt him did I?' Kara thought to herself, she didn't know if she could bear to hear that she'd harmed Barry in any way.

"What happened?" Kara asked as Barry heard Oliver in his ear report they were all back.

"You didn't kill me, so my days looking up." Barry replied with a grin as he walked towards Kara.

"I'm so sorry-"Kara started, looking devastated at the thought of herself trying to kill Barry.

"You're not the first superhero to be mind controlled." Barry grinned as he felt the tension drain away. They were ok. They were all ok.

He wrapped his arms around Kara as she stood in shock, wondering how she could have possibly tried to harm Barry, but feeling his arms around her, she simply wrapped hers around him and let herself sink into his loving embrace. This felt right, being in Barry's arms. This felt good.

As they broke apart, Barry asked Kara to scan the city to make sure that there weren't any others of the devices that controlled everybody whilst he returned to S.T.A.R labs to work out what the next part of the plan was going to be.

He arrived back to see the Felicity asking what being mind controlled was like, and Jax mention how he was shocked Mick had a mind to be controlled, Barry looked around to see the smiling faces of his team mates, his friends, and knew, if that was the best the Dominators could do, they could handle this.

"Barry. About before… Message or no message. We're with you." Ray said to the speedster, grinning as he did. Barry couldn't help but feel a grin moving onto his face as well. United, they could handle anything.

"Thank you." Barry looked around.

"Where's Supergirl?" Thea asked him.

"Scanning the city to make sure there aren't any more of the orbs that whammied all of you." Barry replied.

"Ok, so now what?" Diggle asked.

"We call Lyla, tell her these Dominator's aren't here peacefully." Oliver replied, as the team got ready to go out and deal with the threat.

As they began to walk inside, a strange noise was head and a yellow beam engulfed Sara before she vanished in an instant, as the team looked around in shock, another two beams captured Diggle and Thea.

"Everybody inside! Go!" Barry yelled as Mick, Felicity and Jax ran indoors, another beam capturing Ray as he moved.

Oliver and Barry were the only ones left, Oliver further from the inside than Barry, when the beam hit again and grabbed Oliver. Barry sped towards his old friend, but before he could grab a hold of him, Oliver was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well as anyone who read the original version knows, I made Iris into Savitar in it. I’ve decided I’m going to keep her around, it’s rare I watch the Arrowverse anymore, but I do enjoy it still, and I like Iris, even if I dislike how she got all of her growth post season 3 at the expense of everyone else, especially Barry. So she gets a reprieve. Instead, when season 3 first aired, I predicted Barry would be Savitar and I liked how the show pulled it off, so spoilers, in this fic now, Future Barry is Savitar, same as canon. Not really changing much in that arc from my original version, but yeah, Savitar will be Barry.


	6. Invasion! Part IV

Kara landed back in front of S.T.A.R labs to see Barry on his knees, sobbing, as Cisco and Felicity looked to be gathering all the tech they could carry, and everyone else was trying to look busy.

"What did I miss?" Kara frowns as everyone looks at her.

"The Dominators had some kind of beam, they took Diggle, Thea, Ray, Sara and Oliver." Caitlyn quickly explained to Kara as Barry got up and walked over to Kara, wiping his eyes.

"I wasn't fast enough Kara. I was right there and I wasn't fast enough…"Barry trailed off as fresh tears threatened to escape from his eyes.

"It's ok, we'll get them back." Kara reasoned as she wrapped her favourite speedster in a hug, which he hesitantly returned. She'd be damned if her new friends stayed gone and the Dominators got away with this, especially with how this was impacting Barry. She wasn't surprised he'd found some way to blame himself for this mess, because that was just Barry, selfless to the core.

Barry returned the hug, despite knowing that it was his fault. If only he'd been faster. He knew he could get faster, he knew it was all his fault Oliver and the rest of them were gone and he knew he couldn't rest until he helped save them. Every single time it looked like things could start to look up, the Dominators put them on the back foot.

He breathed in the smell of Kara's hair on his face as they hugged, wondering how someone could make their hair smell as sweet as she made hers. Despite this, however, he still couldn't come to believe her words, that they could get them back. He knew it was all his own fault.

"Barry, can you rush us over to Star City? We need our team, hopefully we can use our tech there to track where they took the others." Felicity came up and asked him.

"Yeah, but I can only take one at a time, Kara, are you ok with carrying the other?" Barry asked his friend before she nodded, grabbing Cisco to avoid any awkwardness with Barry as Barry held onto Felicity and ran as fast as he could towards Star City.

"We'll be back soon, hopefully with the others." Kara smiled at those they were leaving behind in Central City before she too flew up into the air and sped off towards Star City.

Barry and Kara quickly got Cisco and Felicity to the Arrow cave before letting them two go off to do their tech stuff.

"We can't do anything at the moment." Barry trailed off, looking down, hating the idea that he was failing Oliver by being useless.

"Hey, cheer up. We'll know where they are soon enough." Kara encouraged him with a smile. "Want to show me where the best place to eat in Star City is for now?" She prodded him and he smiled at her eagerness.

"Sure, want to try Big Belly Burger then, Girl of Steel?" Barry winked at Kara before speeding off, Kara laughing before racing into the air and following behind him.

As Barry introduced Kara to the delights of Star City's Big Belly Burger, their phones pinged, and checking, they saw Felicity and Cisco needed them to go to a warehouse and meet up with some of the Arrow crew to get a regulator which they could use to find the kidnapped heroes.

"Well, looks like go time again." Kara smiled at Barry, glad to see he'd cheered up a little. She couldn't stand seeing him so lifeless like he had been since Oliver was taken.

Barry and Kara raced to meet up with the other heroes, Barry offering to carry all of them here, Curtis and Holt taking it up whilst Wild Dog stated he'd rather travel solo. As Barry rushed Curtis and Holt there and waited for Wild Dog to arrive, Kara flew a perimeter check and cased out the building.

'Let's not mess this one up Kara, Barry's counting on you.' Kara thought to herself as she made sure their target was inside the building.

"It's so cool Felicity reached out. It's awesome to meet you." Holt said to Barry as Wild Dog arrived.

"Yeah, well, wait till you meet her." Barry replied as Kara landed on top of the nearby container, surprising the three new recruits.

'She makes one hell of an entrance.' Barry thought with a smile as Kara hopped down to greet the others.

"Hey everyone!" Kara greeted with a smile as Mad Dog climbed off his bike.

"Oh I've had enough of this." Mad Dog frowned as he headed off inside, with Barry and Kara both looking at him questioningly.

"Yo, want some company?" Barry asked as Mad Dog tried to take point and head off.

"Not really." He stated bluntly.

"Ok, so what exactly is it you've had enough of?" Barry asked. If Mad Dog had a problem with him, he could handle that, but if he was going to start on Kara for no reason, Barry couldn't tolerate that.

"Nothing, I just didn't know there were flying metahumans now."

"Oh, well Supergirl isn't a Meta, she's an alien." Barry stated as Kara joined up with them from the flanks.

"Oh but I'm one of the good ones." Kara smiled at Mad Dog, hoping to endear herself to him as well, she never could have enough new friends.

"There are no good ones." Mad Dog stated bluntly as he tried to ignore the two freaks following him.

"Hey, what's your damage man?" Barry asked, hoping he could help Mad Dog work through his issues, and wanting him to lay off of Kara.

"My damage, is that people like you two have the power of Gods and you think you can make the world a better place by putting on a fancy costume." Mad Dog bitterly spat out, why couldn't this Meta take the hint and leave him alone?

"No we…we think we make the world a better place because…we do." Kara lamely stated, with a glance at Barry and a shrug as she faced Mad Dog once again.

'She's adorable when she's trying to get someone to like her.' Barry thought to himself as Kara shrugged her shoulders at Mad Dog. 'It isn't like she needs to try to be adorable.' Barry blushed despite himself.

"Look around. Moment he showed up, Meta's started appearing everywhere and now you show up and we get aliens. Superpowers are evil man, and I don't want anything to do with them. Or with either of you." He stated before forging on ahead, opening the next door and leaving Barry and Kara to stare, shocked, behind him.

After a few moments of what sounded like some blasting noises, Barry rushed in to find their target about to vaporise Mad Dog with an electrical blast from her fingertips, he raced over and pulled Mad Dog away before rushing back and landing punch after punch on the target, sending her flying to the floor.

Barry looked up to see Kara land on the floor, shaking her head to move her hair from her face. He could feel his own face heating up as he stared, transfixed at the sight of her. She smiled and they walked towards one another, high fiving in the middle before Barry rushed to the far wall and Supergirl picked up the target.

Kara smiled to herself as she punched their enemy towards Barry, who ran forward, catching her in mid-flight and flinging her towards Kara once again. As she landed on the floor in a heap, Holt and Curtis approached them.

"That was awesome." Holt stated.

"There's the regulator. She seems…pretty attached to it." Curtis chuckled as Barry and Kara just stared at him.

"Maybe just remove it." Barry stated as Curtis got to work on retrieving the piece of tech from her arm.

"Thanks for the save." Mad Dog grumbled as he approached the group, Kara putting her hands on her hips.

"Is that all you have to say?"

"I don't do apologies, sweetheart." He stated as Kara shook her head. "But if super powers are a thing, it's good there are guys like you to protect the world. You know the Green Arrow would have kicked my arse if I'd talked to him like that?"

"Oh yeah" Barry said

"Yeah, yeah, we know." Kara stated as Barry nodded his head to her words.

Kara and Barry quickly got the others back to the Arrow cave before heading off themselves once again.

"So, where were we?" Kara asked Barry with a grin.

"I think I was proving to you why our food is superior to your Earth?" Barry teased with a grin.

"Oh really, Scarlet Speedster?" She shot back.

Barry walked over to her and hugged her once again, glad she was here and that she was within his reach. Kara quickly threw her arms around him as well.

"I'm so glad you're here Kara." Barry stated.

"You know I'm glad to see you too Barry. Now shall we go save everyone?"


	7. Invasion! Part V

With the news that the _Wave Rider_ had rescued those that the Dominator's had taken captive, Barry and Kara raced back to S.T.A.R labs to see what the next plan of attack was going to be against the Dominator's. They were determined, no matter what, the Dominator's would not win.

"What's our status?" Oliver called as the group approached Barry and co.

"Nothing, since the Dominator's paid their little visit to mess with our heads." Barry ruefully sighed.

"Why would they do that?" Nate asked

What if they were trying to pit us against each other, in order to gain Intel about metahumans?" Ray suggested.

"Yeah, I wish they would have just sent us an IM with a questionnaire" Felicity remarked.

"Well, Meta's pose the biggest threat to their invasion, it'd make sense they want to get to know their enemies." Kara suggested, looking around to see who else considered it.

"By kidnapping people." Stein stated with a look of sudden inspiration. "Perhaps they were searching your minds for potential metahumans vulnerabilities."

"I think it's time we returned the favour." Oliver stated, the Green Arrow persona returning to his face as he thought on how they messed with his head.

"What do you wanna do, kidnap one of them now?" Diggle asked.

"Since that first ship landed, they've kinda been in short supply." Barry stated before Nate brought up how he'd tracked where the first fight sixty years before had been against the Dominators, suggesting they go back to then and kidnap one of the Dominators.

"Time Travel…I'm definitely in." Cisco remarked with a look of awe, missing the frown on Barry's face at his word.

'How come if I time travel it's a bad thing but it's cool if Cisco does?' Barry thought to himself.

Kara didn’t miss that either, narrowing her eyes at Cisco, especially after she saw Barry frowning.

‘Who does Cisco think he has? Barry apologised, even someone who had just met him can see he meant it, Cisco can’t berate Barry for time travel then want to do it himself.’

"Hold on, Professor Stein and Caitlin have been talking about a way to take down the Dominator's and they could probably use your help." Barry stated as Cisco glared ahead, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Pass." Cisco rudely stated before Felicity agreed that she'd like to take the chance to experience time travel for herself.

"The new President called." Barry said as the time travelling crew headed off to get ready. "Which would be cool, under different circumstances, but she wants to meet with all of us." He said, putting his hands on his hips.

'Wow, Barry looks hot when taking control of a situation.' Kara thought to herself as she watched him and Oliver arrange to meet with the new President.

"Let's bring Ray and Sara as backup." Oliver stated with a nod.

"What about me? I can do backup." Kara suggested, wondering why Oliver wanted to leave their big gun behind, in case the Dominator's went after the new President as well.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Oliver looked at Kara before walking off, Kara casting a confused glance towards Barry, who just shrugged, before she followed Oliver.

"I would like to minimise your involvement in this." Oliver stated briskly as Kara and Oliver stood away from the others. He may like the woman, but this was their Earth, their fight and he needed to be able to count on the others without relying on Supergirl for everything.

"Why? Because I'm an alien?" Kara asked, outraged at the thought of being discriminated against by Oliver. "I also happen to be your biggest weapon."

"You're an unknown quantity and this is not personal." Oliver stated firmly.

"Except that's exactly how this feels." Kara firmly rebutted, glaring at Oliver. She'd done nothing but try her best since she came here to help everyone, she helped save Oliver, and yet he wanted to just throw her aside because he got a taste of what the Dominator's were like and was scared of aliens?

Oliver went on about how he needed to regain a sense of normalcy in this situation and asked her once more to remain before walking off to go prep to meet the new President with Barry, leaving Kara to her thoughts, a scowl etched on her face. As she marched off in a huff, she didn't notice Barry watching her, a look of worry on his face.

'Good for nothing Oliver…I helped save his life, I wouldn't even be here if not for Barry! Why is he mad at me and not Barry for this sense of normalcy disappearing?' She thought to herself before mentally rebuking herself. It was not Barry's fault for all of this and nobody could blame him, it wasn't like Flashpoint was at fault for the Dominators, was it?

Barry and Oliver headed off with Ray and Sara outside of the hangar to where the President was due to meet them. As they waited for the President to arrive, Barry couldn't shake the image of Kara's scowling face from his mind.

"Hey, um, what did you say to Kara earlier? She seemed pretty angry, I didn't know she was capable of getting angry." Barry said to Oliver, hoping his old friend hadn't made things uneasy with his Earth-38 friend. Oliver was a brother to Barry, but Kara was the woman he was kinda..sorta...into. He couldn't side with either of them if they came to blows and he knew it.

"We've got movement." Sara called out as four vehicles suddenly raced down the runway, before stopping before them, with men climbing out of them and holding guns. Out from one of the cars an older man stepped out and fixed them with a glare.

"I'm sorry. President couldn't make it." He smirked.

"Who are you?" Barry asked, not liking the look of this one bit.

"If I tell you." The man started, as his agents raised their guns and aimed at the team. "I'll have to kill you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going to be uploading all of the Invasion! arc today so will be like 6 chapters today.


	8. Invasion! Part VI

"I think there's been a misunderstanding. See, we're the good guys. The President invited us here." Ray tried to reason with the secret service agents as Barry and Oliver grimly surveyed the scene and Sara prepared to fight.

"Barry, I think it's time you do something, and fast." Oliver growled as Barry sped off to deal with the agents, one of them firing at the sight of the orange blur. Barry quickly turned the bullet around as he slammed into some of the other agents, with Oliver, Sara and Ray also going on the offensive and moving to take down the threat. As the immediate group was taken down, a bullet bounced off of Ray's suit and landed on the floor.

"Sniper!" Oliver gruffly called out.

"On it." Barry flashed off to take on the sniper as the others handled the rest of those in the area, who were starting to get back to their feet and charge towards the heroes once more. As they dispatched the agents, Barry reappeared, getting into the face of their leader.

"We're trying to help you, this is how you thank us?" Barry growled, he was tired of all of the trouble these Dominators were causing, and now the government had to turn on them?

"You don't understand, the reason the Xenomorphs are here-" Agent Smith _said._

"Is because they have a beef with the metahumans, tell us something we don't know." Sara drawled.

"Like what exactly have we done to them?" Barry asked.

"Nothing. Yet. But they see individuals with powers such as yours as a future threat, and frankly, so do I." Smith stated firmly, glaring at Barry as if all the worlds' ills were his fault.

"What brought them back?" Barry asked as he listened to the agent explain how the attack in 1951 was just a reconnaissance mission by the Dominators, rather than an invasion as it was now, after Oliver stated that he could call them off.

"You did, Mr Allen." Agent Smith smugly stated as everyone's eyes widened at the implication that none of their identities were safe.

"He knows who you are." Ray trailed off. Barry had only a few thoughts in his mind at that moment.

'What did I do? How do I fix it? If they know us all, do they know about Kara? Is she safe on this Earth?'

"You threatened the entire universe, when you used your powers to upset the normal course of time."

"You're talking about Flashpoint? How do you even know about-"Ray asked.

"They told us." Smith stated bluntly.

"Look, I made a mistake. I'm not going to let it happen again." Barry firmly nodded. He would not screw up the timeline ever again if he could help it.

"For the past sixty years we have enjoyed a truce with your so-called Dominators. You broke the truce."

"What do they want?" Oliver called out, not liking the way this was heading one bit.

"I've negotiated a deal with them. If…Mr Allen surrenders himself, they will leave us in peace." You really want to save the world? Here's your chance." Smith shook his head as the heroes looked at one another and at Barry, not wanting to believe that the only way to stop this threat was to give up one of their own.

As Smith drove off, Barry looked at the other three sadly.

"I need a few minutes to think." He muttered before speeding away, leaving the others to their thoughts as they want back inside to inform the others of what was going on. As they went back, Barry raced around Central City, taking in the sights of his town. He knew this wasn't up for discussion, no matter what the others thought. One life to save potentially billions? He was giving himself up.

He raced past Jitters and past CCPD, recalling all the good and bad times he'd had, he thought he saw the outline of Julian in the CSI lab, and regretted the fact he hadn't done more to make amends with him before he was forced to resign. Barry raced back to the hangar to find the rest of the team were starting to gather.

"What's going on?" Kara asked, seeing Barry appear and the rest of the group who went to meet the President looking devastated.

"We met with a government agent, who told us why the Dominators are apparently here." Ray stated.

"Apparently, the Dominators have agreed a deal with him and will leave us in peace." Sara spat.

"So, what's the problem?" Kara asked, seeing some of the people look saddened and the rest looking happy at the news that the Dominators would soon be a thing of the past.

"They want something." Oliver ground out, looking furious.

"Me. They want me." Barry said, looking down at his feet, those who didn't know looking shocked at the news.

At the thought that the Dominators wanted Barry, and knowing exactly what the Dominators would do to Barry if they had him, Kara felt as if the world had been pulled out from under her. This couldn't be right, the government wouldn't agree to hand over one of their people to these invaders, would they? Barry wouldn't, couldn't go! He was the Flash! He was Barry, dorky, caring, adorable Barry Allen.

"This isn't up for debate. It's not even a close call. Turn myself over to the Dominators, they leave the rest of the world alone. Simple." Barry stated, as if daring anyone to question his logic.

"No, it's not simple." Felicity ground out, she was not letting one of her best friends do this stupid, idiotic thing.

"Barry, it doesn't matter what you've done. You can't do this." Diggle stated, Barry may have hurt him, but that wasn't important. Barry was a friend, and friends don't have to sacrifice themselves for each other.

"It's been a honour to know all of you. To fight alongside of you. Now it's up to you to keep our home safe. At least the article won't have to come to pass now." Barry spoke, muttering the last part, forgetting Kara would catch it.

"What article?" Kara asked, looking at Barry who sighed.

"There was an article, Barry showed me it at S.T.A.R Labs before you all attacked it, it came with Thawne from the future, it was dated April 2024." Oliver said.

"What did it say?" Ray asked, wondering what could be so important about an article.

"Flash vanishes in crisis, in a battle with the Reverse Flash, both disappeared in a bright light, presumably never seen again." Barry glumly noted, as those who weren't aware looked in shock. "At least it won't happen now when I'm gone." He stated as he turned to face the exit

‘Barry is going to disappear?’ Kara thought to herself in a panic. ‘Not if I have anything I can do about it, there has to be something I can do.’

"Barry! I'm not letting you leave." Oliver shouted as the others came to terms with the fact there were articles from the future.

"No offense, Oliver, but you and what army?" Barry scoffed, turning back to look at his old friends one last time.

"This one." Kara frowned, as Barry looked at all of them. Barry was not getting away that easily and he sure as hell wasn't sacrificing himself to be the hero. This was not his fault, despite what anyone said, she refused to believe that.

‘Kara...’ Barry thought to himself, couldn’t she see why he was doing this? It was for her.

"Listen, Red. I don't like you. But when you got a crew, you gonna take a hit for the rest." Mick stated, imparting his wise wisdom upon the team.

"That was actually pretty inspiring. I mean, up until the point that Mick compared us to a bunch of criminals, but..." Barry laughed a little as some of the tension drained. These guys didn't get it, he had to atone for his mistakes, but despite it all, they still loved him and he still loved them, didn't they see though that was why he was doing this? He was sacrificing himself FOR THEM! Because he loved them!

"According to the Dominators, we might as well be." Amaya stated.

"And maybe they're right. Maybe we do more harm than good, but this is our chance to find out." Nate said.

"We're not letting you sacrifice yourself. There's no way. I don't care if that's what it means to be a hero. You're not a hero to me... you're my friend." Cisco said, glaring at Barry as if to dare him to contradict him.

"Yo! Guys! You know that ship that landed in Central City?" Jax asked everyone.

"It's opening up." Sara affirmed as Barry and Oliver locked eyes with one another.

"Here we go." Oliver grimly stated as the team got ready to go again


	9. Invasion! Part VII

As everyone scrambled to get ready to go to work, Felicity rushed to her computer to the sounding of beeps, stating that Dominator ships were opening worldwide, and that something large had just dropped from the Dominators mothership.

"It's the Meta bomb." Barry said, looking in horror at the unfolding scene before him.

"Why would the uglies drop ships on us if they're just planning on blowing us up?" Felicity asked.

"Because the ships were a distraction….to keep us from stopping the Meta bomb!" Oliver cried out, piecing the bits together.

As Cisco and Sara raced in the _Wave Rider_ to catch the bomb with the tractor beam, Stein approached the ground team with the finished device to take out the Dominators.

"This might help, I've mass produced a device that when placed on individual Dominators will cause indescribable agony…not the nicest invention, but…this is war." Stein trailed off, knowing how bad this could be but knowing there was no other option.

"We're going to have to do it fast." Oliver stated, as Stein mentioned how if they set it off too early, the Dominators would know what was happening.

"Only way I know how." Barry smirked at his old friend, getting back into the spirit of things once again. These Dominators had come here and harmed his home, harmed his friends, and for that alone, they were going down if Barry Allen had anything to do with it.

As Cisco and Sara chased after the bomb, Barry and Oliver ran to the city to meet up with the rest of the team, who were already amassing to take on the disembarking Dominators.

"We ready for this guys?" Oliver asked as everyone around him nodded, it was too late now to not be ready, this was it, the fate of the planet rested on them taking the Dominators down.

As the Dominators approached the team, they lined up in an attack formation, facing the Dominators, who snarled at the sight of them. As one, the heroes and the Dominators charged at one another.

As Kara flew overhead, charging up some heat vision to give to the Dominators, she looked down and saw a streak of orange as Barry raced into the oncoming horde, delivering punches to the sides of their foes as he attached Stein's small weapons to them as he went. Barry raced in between Dominators, seeing their snarling faces up close as he ran, attaching devices to their necks and arms, he sped around them, punching them and blasting some of them with his speed lightning, making sure they felt the pain that they brought to his friends.

Kara blasted more of them from the sky as she flew around Ray and Firestorm, both delivering blasts of dwarf star and fire down upon the Dominators, she saw Citizen Steel blocking a Dominators attack before being knocked back, as Spartan unloaded as many bullets as he could into them, Oliver, with his bow drawn back, firing arrow after arrow at the oncoming invaders, felling several. Mick and Amaya, one roasting them, the other tossing them aside with kicks and punches, despite all of this, the Dominators were tough, and had the numerical advantage, this would be no easy fight.

"Die, you freaks!" Mick yelled as he fought back to back with Oliver, Dominators closing in on them, before Kara sent them flying with her heat vision, Oliver and Mick looked up as she flew overhead, before re-joining the fray once more. Spartan went against one of the Dominators hand to hand before it flipped him to the ground, as it went in for the kill, it was blasted aside and lifted into the air by the ATOM as Ray took it away from the fighting and let go, Kara catching him saying "See ya later, Dominator." As it fell before Ray rejoined the fight himself, despite all of this, she had to smile to herself, a pun in a situation like this was impressive.

As Barry raced between more and more Dominators, ensuring he seeded each and every one of them, out of the corner of his eye he saw Oliver shoot a Dominator with a couple of arrows, before it pulled them and out and swiped at him, knocking Oliver flying over the wall, before Barry could even begin to react he saw Kara zoom away and knew Oliver would be safe, she wouldn't let anything bad happen to her new friend if she could help it.

As Oliver fell from the roof, he knew he was likely out of luck, no grappling arrows to hand, he prepared for the fall when suddenly he felt a jerking behind his back and he was lifted high into the air before being deposited gently back on the battleground, turning to his saviour, he stared at Kara for a few moments, quietly conferring his gratitude, before they nodded to one another, comrades in arms once again, the tension of their earlier argument draining away in the heat of battle, Oliver notched and fired off another arrow at one of the approaching Dominators, with Kara getting ready to fly overhead once more and rain heat vision down from above, suddenly over the comms they heard Felicity's voice calling in.

"Good work planting Professor Stein's nano weapons, although we've still got Dominators all over the country. This looks like a job for Supergirl." She called out as Kara raced off Eastwards to begin planting the weapons on every Dominator in the country, Barry saw this and raced off West himself with them too, also going to help take them down.

"Thanks Felicity, not in the least bit insulted." Barry jabbed at Felicity, hearing her sheepishly apologise and state she meant Supergirl and the Flash.

As Barry and Kara finished planting the devices, they raced back towards Central City, as they heard Oliver over the comms telling Felicity to activate the devices, the Dominators nationwide falling to their knees in pain as the shock ripped through their bodies. As Kara and Barry arrived back, they saw Firestorm transmute the Meta bomb and watched as water fell harmlessly down to Central City, rushing towards the rooftop, they heard the cries as Dominators fled back to their ships and watched as the ships began to take off.

"They're retreating!" Nate cried out as Felicity watched over them all from the base.

"It's not just them, it's all around the world." She stated as the ships rose into the air and left. They had done it. They'd won. The Dominators were in full retreat. It was finally over.

"You did it." Oliver said to Barry and Kara as they all watched the Dominators flee together.

"No, Oliver." Kara stated, wondering why he was minimising his own involvement.

"We all did it." Barry smiled as the rest of the team landed, just taking this moment to bask in their victory, the world was safe once more, and it was because of them. The heroes.

Barry chanced a glance at Kara, seeing her smile lighting up her entire face and the entire world before her, in his opinion. He was glad he hadn’t given himself up in the end, after all, he would have missed this, this chance to just be with her.

Kara looked over to see Barry averting his gaze from her and blushed slightly. Maybe they would need to have a talk, see where they stood with each other before she went back to her Earth.


	10. Invasion! Part VIII

As the team returned to base, keeping an eye out in case any of the Dominators returned or had stayed behind, they got a phone call, telling them that the President wanted to reward all of them back at their base that evening, with a full military official presence. Graciously accepting, the heroes prepared for the arrival of the Commander In Chief.

"What's your new President like then?" Kara asked Barry as they stood off to one side, everyone else preparing for the evening or calming down from the adrenaline of defeating alien invaders.

"She seems nice, as the previous VP though I've not studied her too much." Barry admitted, hoping that however she was, she wouldn't threaten any of his friends. They had bled for this world, the last thing they needed was for a politician to start blaming them for the troubles.

After the President arrived and the stage was set up for the presentation, the heroes lined up on the stage as the President herself took to the podium and began addressing the assembled audience.

"Many responsibilities have fallen to me since the President's passing at the beginning of this crisis. Sobering, sad responsibilities. This is not one of them. Today, it is my distinct honour to bestow upon you a small acknowledgement of the great debt that the world owes to you all." She smiled out as the heroes stood to attention behind her, drinking in the fact that they had won, that the world was safe.

"Is it just me, or is she really hot?" Mick asked Sara as they stood in line, Kara catching their conversation.

"Although your brave efforts must remain a secret…"

"She's hot." Sara nodded back to Mick as Kara smirked at their interaction.

"…know that metahuman or not, masked or not, each and every one of you is a hero." The President finished, smiling out at everyone as the audience rose and clapped, clapping for their own efforts and the brave fight the heroes had put up, to turn the enemy around and chase them away. Kara smiled to herself as she saw this, it was nice to get recognition for your work, even though she didn't really need it. Just the thanks of her new friends would be enough for her any day.

As the President and her advisors left to return to Washington to discuss what next, the heroes got out of their suits and washed up, ready for the real after party with just each other, drinking, dancing and relaxing. They had earned it, after all.

As the groups began to split, Barry and Oliver walked off with champagne glasses in hand, Kara, after getting a top up from Felicity, walked over to join the two men.

"It's like looking into a mirror." Felicity stated, commenting on how she looked like Kara did when she was in her alter ego disguise.

"You know what's funny? She really kinda looks like my cousin." Ray remarked, shrugging off the multiverse shattering truth.

Kara raced over to Barry and Oliver, calling out to them as they turned around to face her.

"Hey, guys. Either of you ever save the world before?" She looked between the two of them.

"Mm-hmm." Barry grinned at her.

"Last year." Oliver stated.

"Oh, it never gets old, does it?" Kara sighed, happy to think of all the good they had all done for the world.

"Nope. It sure beats screwing up the world." Barry stated, looking annoyed with himself still.

"Hey. You are too hard on yourself." Kara chided. She thought Barry had gotten over the idea of blaming himself for every little thing.

"That's what people usually tell me." Oliver remarked.

"And for good reason, I'm sure. But, back on my Earth, it's just me and my cousin. Between the two of us, we're more powerful than-" Kara trailed off as Barry interjected.

"-Than everybody in this room combined." Barry remarked with a grin, watching Kara blush at the idea.

"No, no, that's the point. That's what you've all proven here. Metahuman or not, superpowers or not... you are Earth's mightiest heroes." She finished as Oliver looked sheepishly at her, apologising for his earlier behaviour towards her.

"The truth is, that this Earth could probably use a Supergirl." Oliver admitted as Kara looked at Barry and Oliver as she pointed to herself.

"That's funny because I was just thinking my Earth could use an Oliver Queen." The three of them grinned at one another, good friends united.

"I know you said, you don't get…unnerved. But if you did, I think, hardship is what makes us stronger. It's probably why these people look to you as their rock." Kara wisely stated as Oliver absorbed her words.

"You guys feeling a group hug?" Barry coyly suggested as Oliver shook his head and Kara called him into one, the three of the friends embracing each other.

"Hey Kara, I made you something." Cisco smiled at her as he approached the group.

Breaking off the hug, Kara turned to him with a smile on her face still.

"What? Cisco! What err, what is it?"She asked, pulling the small device out from the box he presented to her.

"Oh its err, it's an interdimensional extrapolator" He explained.

"Ohh." She stated, having an inkling on where he was going with this.

"It creates small breaches so you can use it to cross over to our universe anytime you need too."

"Oh my God, that's amazing!" Kara laughed, before realising exactly what this meant.

'I can see Barry at any time I want.'

"I also included communication functionality so if you ever need any help, you can always contact the team." Cisco said, not realising Kara was wrapped up in her own thoughts.

"Hey Skirt." Mick stated, drawing Kara out of her mind as she and Cisco looked at him. "Call me." He sauntered off, not noticing the look of disbelief Kara gave him. He had guts, she'd give him that.

As the team continued to mingle and the night wore on, Nate walked over as he saw three men enter the hangar, before the rest of the team noticed them, he approached Agent Smith and his companions.

"Something tells me you weren't invited." Nate stated.

"Doctor Haywood!" Smith jovially replied as if he wasn't gatecrashing.

"Don't Doctor Haywood me, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I like parties. And I'm here for the mop up." He replied, looking over Nate's shoulder at the rest of the team as Kara walked over towards them.

"Agent Smith!" Kara cheerfully called out as the man turned to look at her. "It's so funny, seeing you here. I was just having the loveliest chat to your President about you, I was just telling her on my Earth we have the department of extra normal operations which deals specifically with aliens. She thought it was an excellent idea. She also loved my pitch about reassigning you to Antarctica." Kara finished with a smug smile at the man as he shot her a look of loathing as well. Kara didn't care though, this man had threatened her friends, and especially Barry and she would not forgive or forget it.

She walked off as Nate bade him farewell, the man leaving in a huff, she walked over to Barry and grabbed him by the arm.

"Come with me, I want to speak to you in private." She motioned, Oliver, who was talking to Barry, taking the hint and striking up a conversation with Nate, she pulled Barry outside into the cool, cold air.

"Bit cold out here." Barry remarked with a blush as he drunk in Kara's appearance. The battle was won and soon she would return to her Earth, but was it wrong of him to wish she'd stay here with him?

"Yeah, but I know something that could warm it up." Kara smirked at him and with a wink, she approached him.

"What do you mean?" Barry nervously laughed, unsure if she still liked him as he liked her, yet hoping she did.

"Well, last time you started it, so I guess it's my turn." Kara grinned before throwing her arms around Barry's neck and pulling him into the kiss. For the moment, nothing existed except the two of them, her hands around his neck as he wrapped his around her waist, pulling her even closer, their lips pressed against one another, he felt something wet against his bottom lip and opened his mouth to let her tongue inside his mouth, feeling his tongue meet with hers, they continued this for several minutes until they broke apart.

"Wow." Barry said in a daze as he saw the same glazed look in Kara's eyes. "Now I wish you didn't have to go."

"This isn't goodbye, Barry Allen." Kara reminded him with a grin. "I definitely want to try that again soon. This is farewell, for now."

The two walked into the hangar once again to meet Sara, Oliver and Diggle waiting.

"Ready to see if Cisco's gadget works?" Barry asked her.

"Ready. And remember, if you guys ever need me, I'm just a call away." Kara replied.

"Same here." Oliver nodded to her, they'd only known each other a day, but they all knew they'd risk their lives for one another, they already had done before.

Kara pressed the button on the extrapolator and watched as the breach opened, with a sigh and one last loving gaze at Barry, which to her joy was returned, Kara walked through the breach and it closed behind her, taking her back to Earth-38. ( _Rest of the chapter will be just Barry now)_

Barry and Diggle walked off as Sara and Oliver spoke to each other for a few moments, before joining them at the hangar entrance, Sara rubbing her hand against Diggle's shoulder as she left, heading back to the _Wave Rider_ and the next big adventure with the rest of the Legends.

Diggle and Oliver spoke about how normal was kind of gone, as Barry laughed, he knew that only too well.

"I may never understand you, man, but you're one of the best men I know." Diggle stated, offering Barry his hand to shake before heading off himself, Star City was a long way to go, he would be best catching some sleep before the plane ride back tomorrow.

"Thanks Dig, so, you forgive me for what I did?" Barry asked, still hitting himself over all the things he messed up with Flashpoint.

"Barry, as I keep telling this guy, you have to forgive yourself. Good luck." Dig smiled as he left, leaving Barry and Oliver alone together.

"We have to do this more often, get together, I mean." Barry laughed

"I don't know if the world could take it." Oliver stated.

"I meant without the world being threatened." Barry said.

"So if the world isn't been threatened, what would we do?" Oliver asked, shrugging his shoulders before they both grinned at one another.

"I know a good bar downtown?" Barry suggested.

"I've got a fortune." Oliver grinned as they headed off to go drink together, talking about the fights they've had together and against one another.

"I'm just saying." Oliver started as they drank from the first of what would hopefully be many drinks that night "Next time I'm gonna getcha."

"I'm just saying I beat you twice." Barry muttered into his bottle.

"The first time was a tie." Oliver remarked.

"And the second time?"

"There were no witnesses the second time." Oliver shrugged as Barry grinned.

"Super speed arrow duels." Barry murmured to him "Our lives aren't exactly normal."

"I told Kara." Oliver stated, suddenly hit by the idea to tell Barry what he had said to the Girl of Steel, it wasn't like Oliver was blind, he knew they'd gone outside and kissed. "I was looking to reclaim some normal, thinking on it now, I'm not so sure."

"I know what you mean." Barry stated "We both got a look at what life would be normal."

"It would have been happy." Oliver said, with a sadness in his eyes.

"But not full." Barry murmured.

"No, nowhere close." Oliver shook his head.

"To things not been normal." Barry proposed a toast.

"To life being full." Oliver added as they clinked their bottles together.

As the two took a drink and put their bottles down.

"So, how long have you and Kara liked each other?" Oliver remarked as Barry shook his head.

"Oliver!" He laughed as the two men took another drink together.


	11. Supergirl Lives!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara returns from Invasion to help deal with Cadmus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve decided, to both pad the number of chapters and to make the story flow better, the Barry and Kara parts will now be split over two chapters, rather than all put together like the older version. This will be Kara’s next steps after Invasion! Then Barry’s will be next chapter.

As Kara stepped through the breach, she found herself once more in her apartment. However, this wasn't how she'd left her apartment. There were things thrown across the floor, tables overturned, and clothes in a mess. She frowned at the state of it and used her X-Ray vision to look around for intruders, seeing that the apartment was clear, she sped over and cleaned up the mess in a matter of minutes.

'I'll go to the DEO and see if everyone is there.' Kara thought to herself before changing back into her Supergirl outfit and taking to the skies, zipping through the air of National City, from above, everything looked the same, people went about their day, the world hadn't ended, and Kara flew to the DEO offices, landing in the main foyer.

As she entered the DEO, some of the agents who were milling around looked at her and stared open mouthed at the sight of her, seeing this, Kara frowned as she hurried to find J'onn and Alex, had something happened she was needed for?

As Kara reached J'onn's office she heard a variety of different, familiar voices, she pushed open the door, as they all turned to look at the intruder, before their mouths fell open in shock. Looking around, Kara could see J'onn, Alex, Winn, Mon-El, Eliza and Kal all gathered around a table.

"Hey everyone! I'm back!" Kara smiled, as they continued to stare at her in shock. "What's going on?"

"Kara!" Alex was the first to reach her sister and wrap her in a hug, followed by Eliza and Winn, before J'onn, Mon-El and Kal hugged her as well.

“What’s with the urgent hugging?” Kara asked, a bit confused.

"Where were you Kara?" Kal asked, looking at his cousin in shock.

"You would not believe the weekend I've had." Kara laughed.

"Weekend?" Winn questioned, confused.

"Kara…it's been two months." J'onn gently stated. "What happened to you?"

"Two months?!" Kara asked, stunned. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I got to your apartment to find you were gone, we overturned the place and since then we've spent the past two months looking for you, where were you?" Alex demanded, relieved her sister was home but angry she vanished.

"Winn, you remember Barry from last year, right?” Kara explained, fidgeting as she realised how much she must have upset them, not even leaving a note for them.

"The Flash from another universe, so cool by the way, what about him?" Winn asked, as Mon-El and Eliza looked shocked that there were other universes.

"Well he appeared in my apartment, all those space-time portals at Thanksgiving were him trying to find this Earth. He needed a favour and I owed him one from Livewire and Banshee, so I went to his Earth to help stop an alien invasion." Kara smiled as the rest looked at her in shock. An alien invasion?!

"Aliens? What type?" J'onn asked, wondering what exactly his agent had been up against.

"The Dominators." Kara stated, Kal and Mon-El's eyes widening in shock.

"You fought the Dominators? What happened?" Mon-El asked.

"Who are the Dominators?" Eliza asked.

"They came to Krypton and Daxom years ago, before any of us were born, they captured a lot of people, did experiments on them, killed a lot more." Kara explained to the shock of those who didn't know the history of them fully. "They're a species who pride themselves on collecting knowledge. They attacked Barry's Earth in 1951 but came back as they thought Metahumans were a threat to the future, so we had to stop them” Kara explained as Mon-El and Kal looked impressed she had helped defeat them and the others looked worried that she had had to fight this powerful foe.

“What happened?” Kal asked, seeing Kara looked slightly disturbed as she thought back on it.

“They had a message from the future, from Barry, warning them he couldn’t be trusted.” Kara explained.

“Why couldn’t they trust him?” Alex narrowed her eyes.

“Because he went back in time and changed their timeline.” Kara admitted sadly. She still felt bad for Barry, having to go through all of that. “According to the Dominators, that’s what drew them there, they knew of the timeline changes, and wanted to stop the threat Barry and others like him may pose to them.”

“How did they plan to do that? Seems they lost pretty easily.” Mon-El laughed.

“They had this device, the others didn’t trust Barry, they sent me with them to cover for him, the Dominators were able to take over us, we all attacked Barry and Oliver, I didn’t even recall any of it, Barry told me I almost roasted him several times with my heat vision though.” Kara frowned.

"Are you sure you're ok Kara?" Eliza asked her, worried her daughter wouldn't be up for fighting again so soon.

"Yeah, I mean, we can handle it if not." Winn stated.

"Guys, I'm fine, Barry managed to make me angry and I accidentally destroyed the machine that was controlling us, freeing everyone up, Oliver and some of the others got captured so I had to help Barry and Oliver's protégés steal something from a thief to help track them so we could get them back, then some of them went back in time to go capture a Dominator in 1951 to learn their intentions, then as they arrived back the Dominators said they'd leave if Barry handed himself to them, we all talked him out of it before we had the final battle, defeated the Dominators, stopped their WMD, they fled, and we got honoured by their President before we had a small victory party. Then I came back here with a device that lets me call or go to their universe whenever I want. I guess time flows differently through the universes, you say it was two months, it was less than two days for me." Kara finished as everyone tried to digest what had happened.

"That's quite an adventure you had." Winn stated finally as everyone else was coming to terms with what happened. "Barry changed the timeline you say?"

"Yeah he saved his mother from dying, realised how it impacted the future and went back to fix it." Kara sighed, sad that her friend had to go through the pain of losing Nora Allen all over again.

"Well at least he tried to fix it." J'onn supplied.

"I was going to stay and help Barry with this new threat he's facing, but I knew I had to finish Cadmus and Hank Henshaw, and Barry would call me if he needed me." Kara supplied.

"What's he facing?" Kal asked, not liking the idea of his cousin dimension hopping on a whim.

"A thing named Savitar. Barry is probably slightly faster than we are, Kal, and this Savitar apparently is many times faster than Barry."

"How would you help then?" Alex demanded, not wanting Kara to go fight in other universes either.

"He's apparently made of metal, heat vision should melt him and freeze breath should slow him." She smiled.

"Made of metal? Awesome, I mean, awful." Winn said as Kal glared at him.

"Don't worry Winn, I won't be fighting him unless Barry asks, but as he styles himself the God of Speed, I'd like to prove he isn't a God." Kara said with a laugh.

"Is that all you did?" Eliza asked faintly, sensing Kara was holding something back but not wanting to hear more about any danger she was in.

"Erm….yes?" Kara asked with a blush on her face, a blush that none of them missed.

"What's his name?" Kal threatened, cracking his knuckles together.

"Clark! It's Barry! I'll introduce you one day, ok?" Kara reasoned. "He and I first kissed when he kissed me before he left this Earth, I could tell he liked me still and I like him, so before I left, we went outside alone and I kissed him this time."

Mon-El suddenly seemed annoyed and excused himself as some of the others looked shocked.

"I thought you were with James?" Alex asked her.

"No, we tried, but it didn’t really work out and I've liked Barry for a long time now. We're not together either, it probably won't even happen again, it was just a kiss." Kara began to go off on a rant, showing how embarrassed and confused she was.

"Sure." Winn laughed, sensing that this was going to last for a while.

"Wait, did I miss Christmas?" Kara pouted.

"Afraid so." Eliza laughed. "Alex has your presents, don't worry."

“Yay!” Kara grinned. She couldn’t have missed out on that.

As the others continued to fill Kara in on what she had missed, Mon-El returned, apologising for leaving, shrugging it off despite his bitter tone, Kara found out that whilst she had been gone Hank, or Cyborg Superman, had gone around destroying buildings, causing millions in damage, but always disappearing before J'onn or Kal could get there to stop him.

"Next time he shows up, we'll all go." Kara reasoned, hoping they could get there next time and stop him.

"Hopefully we'll be quick enough to stop him." J'onn said before the alarm suddenly blared around the DEO.

"Cyborg Superman spotted entering LCorp." Winn said as he checked the alert, Kara and Kal rushing off to go stop him.

“Are you ready for this?” Kal asked her as the two of them flew over the city.

“Try and stop me.” Kara grinned at him, pushing ahead.

As Kara and Kal approached LCorp, they saw the unconscious security guards and the smashed up windows.

"Can you see him?" Kara asked, using her X-Ray vision to try and spot him but failing.

"Nothing, he could be cloaked or already gone.' Kal admitted.

"Should we check then?" Kara asked.

"Supergirl!" A voice behind them called.

They turned around to see Lena Luthor approaching them.

"Luthor." Kal spat. Kara frowned at his actions and smiled as she approached.

"Miss Luthor, are you alright?"

"I am now. That guy who attacked you a few months ago was here, and he was trying to find something, he destroyed part of my building when he couldn't find it but he ran before he could really hurt anyone. Am I glad to see you though, where have you been the past few months? National City has really needed you around." Lena frowned, crime rates had shot up when criminals realised Supergirl, wherever she was, wasn't answering the call for justice.

With Lillian Luthor released from prison when the evidence against her was circumstantial at best, Cadmus had soon started its propaganda machine once more, saying how Supergirl had disappeared as she was evil, and Lena knew that her mother wouldn't be seeking her help ever again, if anything, she'd call Lena a traitor to her race and call on Cadmus to remove her.

"I'm sorry I was gone Miss Luthor, a friend needed help and I had to go, I didn't plan to be gone so long." Kara frowned. She hated the idea of failing her city in any way.

"So he's gone." Kal muttered before he flew off, heading back to the DEO.

"I'll see you around Miss Luthor." Kara smiled at Lena who returned the smile before she headed off herself. She and Lena had parted on less than perfect terms, but it had been two months for Lena, Lena had moved on and so could Kara.

Kara and Kal returned to the DEO where J'onn was waiting for them.

"So Hank Henshaw escaped, huh? When we find him, we'll stop him." J'onn stated. Hank had ruined too many people's lives, and what little good was in him had been stripped away when Cadmus got their hands on him. He was nothing but evil now and a threat to those J'onn loved and cared for.

"I have an idea, I can call on a friend who might be able to help." Kal stated.

"Who is it?" Kara asked.

"You'll see, I think you'll like him." Kal admitted with a smile and a quick goodbye before he flew off.

"So, I guess I best head back to work." Kara said before J'onn fixed her with a look.

"If you head back to work now, after months of being missing, at the same time the missing Supergirl appears, you may as well admit on live television who you are. Spend the next few weeks as Supergirl, get people used to seeing you again, and then let Kara Danvers return from a sabbatical, hopefully people will think you can't possibly be Supergirl and let it go." J'onn stated.

Kara accepted this, no matter how much she wanted to, as Oliver had said to her, reclaim some normalcy, and with a sigh she headed off to go and find Alex, to see if her sister needed any help around the DEO whilst she was stuck in her Kryptonian character for now.

On her way out she saw Mon-El, working in the lab with Winn, a frown etched onto his face.

"What's the matter Mon-El?" She called and he looked at her, the frown getting stronger before disappearing instantly.

"Nothing Kara, what brings you down here?" he asked, hoping she didn't pick up on his mood, unfortunately for him, she did.

"I'm stuck as Supergirl for the next few weeks, so I'll be doing a lot of work to try and help the DEO to deal with Cadmus, have you found a new job then yet?" She asked him, smiling and hoping that his mood, no matter why it was like that, would soon improve. She missed her Daxomite friend, and ever since she rescued him from Cadmus, he just wasn't the same.

“Not yet, but I’m sure I’ll find something soon.” Mon-El said dismissively, turning away from her.

Kara frowned but let it go, heading through the base to see what she could do to help, when she received a buzz on her phone.

“10PM. Metropolis Harbour Warehouse 12. - Clark”.

Kara looked at her watch, having received a text from Clark, he told her to meet him here at this time, in this old, abandoned warehouse. She knew from stereotypes alone this is where the villains usually met, not the good guys.

'Barry's rubbing off on me.' She thought to herself with a slight blush.

Kara heard a noise and looked up to see Kal descending from a hole in the ceiling above before landing on the floor before her.

Kal grinned as Kara approached him. "I brought a friend."

"Where is he?" she asked, looking around and seeing nobody.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a dark shape moving, as suddenly a person dropped to the ground from out of the dark corner of the building he was hiding in.

"He likes theatrics." Clark explained.

"Hey." The man said, his voice gravelly and rough. "I'm Batman."


	12. The Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry faces off against Savitar and learns his future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first few chapters won’t be changed too much from the original version, so this one is largely AU from 3x09, with Jay knowing more about Savitar than he did in canon and helping Barry with it.

As Barry raced through Central City, it was a gloriously sunny day, despite it nearly being Christmas. He'd found out Julian was aware of Savitar, yet he claimed to know nothing, Barry knew he had to be lying though, or not telling the whole truth at any rate. _From what he had seen, he had to find out what Julian knew._

Barry knew there was one man who knew more about the Speed Force than anyone else he knew, if anyone knew about Savitar, it'd probably be Jay Garrick. Rushing back to STAR labs he asked Cisco to vibe a breach to Earth 3 so he could call on Jay to get his help, rushing through the portal Cisco created for him, he found Jay in battle with the Trickster, quickly helping to deal with him, he turned to Jay.

"I've something I need to talk to you about, a speedster, calls himself Savitar." Barry said, gulping when he saw the look of shock on Jay's face.

'Guess he knows him then.'

"Let's get back to your Earth then and talk, Flash." Jay said, as the two of them ran together to open the breach to Earth-1. Jumping through the breach, they landed inside STAR labs once again.

"So, Savitar, apparently you've grown powerful enough to challenge him." Jay stated.

"Yeah I know, what I don't know is where he came from, why he sees me as a threat and how I can stop him." Barry frowned, hoping Jay would have the answers he desperately needed.

"I don't know who he is, I've never seen him, you're the first speedster I know who has, all I know is all the stories say the same, Savitar was the first man ever granted speed. Over time, he became the God of Motion, the fastest of us all. Before he comes to an Earth, he sends a lackey to prepare the world for him." Jay said.

"Alchemy." Barry grimly noted as Jay nodded.

"He's preparing for a battle, with you." Jay pointed out.

"Why me?" Barry asked, still not sure as to why Savitar believes him such a threat.

"You're threatening his power, Barry, you're getting faster and faster and it's not something Savitar will tolerate. He'll want to end you before you can get even faster than he is."

"Can I really get that much faster?" Barry asked.

"Theoretically, you could probably one day, with enough motivation and practise, reach speeds nearing light speed." Jay stated to Barry's shock.

"I'll be ready when he comes again for me then." Barry stated, determined to take Savitar down.

"We'll be ready." Jay affirmed, Barry looking over at him with confusion. "I'm not letting you face this alone, I'll help you take Savitar and Alchemy down."

Barry and Jay raced to Jay’s lab and got to work checking every single text they could for any mention of the name Savitar and hopefully, a way they could take him down.

"This is hopeless, I've checked every book, not a reference to Savitar in any of them." Barry grumbled.

"Patience, Barry, I find that everything reveals itself in time." Jay stated, as he picked up a book to have another look himself, they'd find some way to stop Savitar, he knew they would.

As the day wore on, the two speedsters agreed to take up the challenge the next day and Barry headed home for a well-deserved rest. As he walked through the front door, he saw Iris wrapping presents, smiling he walked past her and sat on the sofa, her soon following.

"I shopped and I shopped and now I'm ready to drop _.”_ _Iris sighed as she dropped down next to him, lying her head on his chest as she did. She had accepted that Barry was still confused with everything, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be with her, and she could accept that, but they had agreed to move in together, and she did want him to know she was there for him, however he needed her to be. At the same time, she was thinking, if Barry wasn’t into her, maybe she would start looking for a relationship._

"By the way.” Iris said off-handedly, gazing up at Barry. “After you told me about Julian's archaeological dig I did some of my own. Turns out four years ago there was a dig in India, something bad happened to it and the only survivor of the team was Julian." Iris stated.

"So it looks like Julian is a liar then." Barry grimly stated as he moved, Iris sitting up to let him stand, with a quick goodbye, he sped out of the door towards STAR labs. It seemed like it was time for Jay and him to pay Julian a little visit. He raced through the streets and arrived at the lab to find everyone else already there, Jay looked at him in worry as he arrived. Barry explained how he believed Julian has the philosopher's stone and is connected to Alchemy, before an alert signalled Alchemy was on the move. Flashing over, they found Alchemy and his acolytes trying to restore the powers of the Flashpoint Metahumans.

"It's over Alchemy!" Barry called as the acolytes scattered before Savitar himself appeared, bearing down on Barry. Barry looked up at the monstrosity in horror.

"Please tell me you see him!" He called out to Jay, who wore a matching expression of utmost horror and shock.

"Oh I see him." Jay muttered.

"We have to take him, together."

"No! I'll cover Savitar, you just get that stone!" Jay cried before charging at Savitar, the God of Speed, grabbing him by the neck in one fluid movement before speeding off to deliver to Jay the beating he gave Barry a few weeks previous. Barry raced up the building as Alchemy prepared to attack, charging up an electric bolt which fried Alchemy, sending him sprawling to the ground.

As Alchemy made to rise again, Barry punched him with a lightning fast fist, knocking him out, seeing the philosopher's stone on the ground, Barry picked it up and placed it within the box that Alchemy was carrying, before bending down to unmask Alchemy, pulling off the mask, Barry looked down into the face of Julian Albert.

"Julian…" he trailed off before picking up his former co-worker and racing back to S.T.A.R labs to place him in the pipeline. As he got back he found Jay waiting for him, who told him that Savitar was about to kill him, before he suddenly flashed away.

Barry waited in the pipeline until Julian awoke, and asked him what he was doing as Alchemy, before Julian accused the Flash of setting him up and demanding his phone call, claiming he had no recollection of his time spent as Alchemy, giving him up as a lost cause for now, Barry walked off to check up on Jay, it was his fault if Jay got injured.

Jay it turned out was beaten up but fine, sharing some banter with Barry as he called Barry his sidekick and Barry calling him a senior citizen, Barry told him to rest up as he went to see how the others were doing with the idea of Savitar being trapped within the stone.

'I bet Winn could crack this if he was here, I wonder if he and Kara are fighting alien threats back on Earth-38?' Barry wondered as he walked through the halls of S.T.A.R labs, it had only been a week, but he missed Kara so much. He knew about the time running differently, and wondered how long it would have been for her back home, did she sort everything out with James and go back to being happy with him? Barry found the idea of Kara being happy with someone else as saddening, just as he found the idea of kissing Iris somewhat uneasy.

Barry asked what they knew about Julian's ideas and the box that kept the stone, Cisco stating that Julian truly believed what he was saying, that he had no idea about any of this, and that the box registered as not existing on every test they ran it through, it was as if it wasn't made of matter at all. Barry walked into Joe who spoke about how Wally seemed to be letting his speed take control of his brain, giving Barry an idea as to why Julian believes he isn't Alchemy.

Barry went back to the pipeline to examine Julian and question him further about the box, asking if he experienced any times where he blacked out, before Julian remarked that as a man wearing a mask, he had no right to assume others were hiding anything. Accepting this, Barry revealed himself to Julian.

"I should have known. I should have guessed it. The unexplained absences, your passion for metas, your general thumbing your nose at authority. I bet you had a good laugh behind my back." Julian accused Barry, throwing him glares for locking him up, the hypocritical Metahuman.

"I wish I could have told you before." Barry sighed.

"Why would you? We've never liked each other." Julian sneered.

"Because of Flashpoint. You've been giving powers to those who had them in Flashpoint, which was an alternate reality I accidentally created. When I fixed it you were there, working at CCPD and apparently my rival. Before Flashpoint, I'd never met you before. So when I got to work and found you there, I was shocked, even more shocked to find you disliked me and the feeling was supposedly mutual. I'm sorry Julian." Barry averted his eyes as Julian looked at him in shock.

'Allen thinks we've known each other for such a short time? Mental Meta.' He sneered inside his head.

"Why tell me now that you're the Flash?" Julian queried, wondering why Allen would give up his big secret like this.

"Because I need you to trust me, Julian. You ARE Alchemy. I just don't think you're aware of it, now, have you been blacking out?"

"…Yes." Julian admitted, realising that maybe Allen was onto something, if he was Alchemy, it would certainly explain the lapses in his memory he'd been suffering for a while now.

Julian admitted to Barry that he lost his sister and he found the stone due to a vision of her appearing, telling him where it was and how he could resurrect her using its powers.

Barry felt his heart breaking at the sorrow in Julian's words, what he had done was exactly what Barry tried to do with Flashpoint, he certainly couldn't hold it against Julian for hoping against hope that this stone could fix his problems and bring back his loved ones.

Barry tried to tell Julian that he was Alchemy, and to try and work him through the issue of it, as Julian panicked, believing yet not wanting to believe that he was Alchemy, this monster who was terrorising the people of Central City. Alchemy stood for everything Julian opposed, namely, Metas.

Barry was startled by a sudden noise as he spoke with Julian, trying to find out more about Savitar.

"Guys, what's going on?" He asked into the comms.

"Cisco's workshop! Barry he opened the box!" Caitlin cried as Barry sped off, something had made Cisco release Savitar and now he had to stop him, somehow.

"Cisco?" Barry asked, seeing Savitar stood behind him and Cisco, entranced by the light of the philosopher's stone.

"Bow to your God." Savitar groaned as he charged forward, grabbing Barry and slamming him around S.T.A.R labs. As Savitar threw Barry around the pipeline like a rag doll, suddenly Wally appeared before them.

"Hey, metal mouth!" Wally called, getting Savitar to turn his attention to him as Barry struggled to his feet.

Wally charged forward at Savitar, only to be grabbed himself and thrown at Barry, sending both the Flash and Kid Flash to the ground in a heap. As they struggled to get back up, Savitar began to approach them, grinding his metallic arms against the circular walls, savouring the fear in their eyes as he approached, ready to eliminate two threats to his rule. Suddenly, with a flash, Savitar vanished, seeing this, Barry and Wally both fell backwards, exhausted. For now, the threat was over. Savitar had been contained once more.

Barry and the others gathered as Cisco explained his plan to link the stone to Julian and allow them to communicate with Savitar directly through Julian, as it appeared there was no Alchemy, and that it was always Savitar, possessing Julian and using him as a mouthpiece.

As they hooked Julian up, and he quickly fell asleep, they were startled by a sudden yell from Julian, before Julian awoke and fixed Barry with a look. Barry knew that look. This wasn't Julian.

"Hello Barry. It's been a while." Savitar spoke to him.

Barry watched as Savitar possessed Julian and looked around at each of them in turn, assessing them, figuring out their weaknesses, their desires, how best to defeat them.

"Savitar." Barry spat.

"None of you are on your knees. It is normal to bow when you are before a deity." Savitar growled out.

"You're not a God."

"To be a God you just have to make people believe you are." Savitar reasoned with Barry.

"No-one believes in you." Iris stated.

"You should, Iris." Savitar spoke as the others looked shocked that he knew who she was. "I hold the power of life and death over all of you."

"How do you know so much about us?" Caitlin asked, scared of what Savitar could know.

"I know you Caitlin. Cisco, Joe, Wally, the fake Wells." Savitar snarled "I know your fears, I know your weaknesses, I know you better than you know yourselves." Savitar allowed himself a sickening grin. "I know your destinies. One shall betray you. One shall fall. One shall suffer a fate far worse than death. This is the knowledge I have for you, about your everlasting damnation." Savitar stated as the others looked shocked, Barry recovering first.

"Who are you?" Barry asked, if Savitar knew so much about the future, could he be related to Thawne in some way?

"I am the future, Flash." Savitar stated.

"What do you want from us?"

"Everything!" Savitar growled out "Everything you took from me, I want it back! And I'm going to take it back. Then, I will destroy you." Savitar promised as Barry looked at him in disgust.

"Then why haven't you already? If you're all powerful, then why don't you just go ahead and kill us all now, be done with it. Because you can't." Barry reasoned, feeling nothing but revulsion for Savitar. The man was not a God, and he'd proven he wasn't one.

"You did this to me. You trapped me, in this eternity. Your future self, you did this to me, Barry!" Savitar cried out in anger as Barry looked shocked at him.

'My future…..the same one who said I couldn't be trusted?' Barry wondered.

"And now the age of my revenge rises, my freedom is at hand. You will feel my wrath! The wrath of Savitar!" He yelled before Barry pulled the headset from Julian, shutting Savitar back out and waking Julian up once more.

'Oh God, I created Savitar….what did I do?' Barry thought to himself. 'How badly will I keep screwing up in the future?'

As the group regrouped in the main console room and discussed what to do, Jay suggested they throw the box into the Speed Force, Barry using Jay's speed to catapult it into eternity and rid the world of Savitar for good.

"Will it work?"

"Only one way to find out." Barry stated as him and Jay got suited up to go for a run.

Barry and Jay raced through the pipeline before Barry could throw the box into the Speed Force, as he did so, a burst of energy blasted into him and Barry found himself landing on a cold, wet paving slab on the outside world. As he walked around to get his bearings, he heard a voice pleading. His own voice! He snuck over to see himself, pleading with Savitar, who held Iris aloft in his arm.

"You lose, Barry." Savitar gloated as he plunged a blade into Iris, the future Flash too slow to save her. Barry saw this and felt his heart breaking, Iris was going to die? Is that why the article didn't read Iris West-Allen, and not, as Barry may have hoped, because Barry was with someone else?

Suddenly, Barry felt a hand on his shoulder and he was pulled through a breach, back to 2016 Central City by Jay Garrick.

"Jay? What the hell was that, where was I?" Barry demanded to know.

"The future." Jay surmised, as Barry looked in shock. He'd gone to the past several times, but never travelled to the future like that before.

As Barry asked about what he saw in the future and claimed he would change it, Jay got angry and told him about why nobody should know their own future.

"Just as there are infinite Earth's in the multiverse, there are infinite possibilities in the future, it's always bending, always changing, every decision you make creates another alternative!" Jay shouted at him, hoping he could make Barry see sense. Nothing he could do would change that future if he went into it believing it would happen, Barry would inadvertently cause it to happen.

"I won't let Iris die." Barry stated, no matter what his future was to be with Iris, Barry was damned if it wasn't going to be a long, fulfilling and happy life for Iris West, his best friend, and possibly more.

As Jay left to return to Earth-3, the others asked what happened.

"Is the stone gone?"

"I think so, it's hard to tell." Barry stated.

"Not really, either Savitar has gone for a sleep with the fishes or not." Cisco reasoned.

"I was knocked into the future." Barry started, and once he started he found he couldn't stop. "Apparently it was one possible future, and it's always prone to change, but it was five months from now, I saw my future self, pleading. Savitar was there."

"He was?!" The others asked, shocked, they hoped he was gone, what would it take to get rid of the speedster?

"There's more, I was pleading for him to spare her, but I wasn't fast enough, he murdered her and then ran, leaving my future self to cradle her." Barry broke into tears and began to sob uncontrollably as the others gathered around him, comforting him.

"It's ok, it hasn't and won't happen, and you'll save her." Iris reasoned before Barry broke into even more sobs, Julian looking awkward at the emotion Allen was exhibiting.

"Who was it, Barry?" Caitlin asked kindly, hating seeing her friend in this pain.

"Iris. He murdered Iris." Barry emotionlessly stated as the others looked at one another in shock, Iris feeling the world was slipping from under her as Joe and Wally looked at her in fear, tears streaming from everyone's eyes. They couldn't and wouldn't lose Iris.


	13. The Bat and the Cyborg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batman helps Clark and Kara take on Hank Henshaw

"So….Batman?" Kara asked, wondering why the Bat of Gotham was here, and honestly confused by his appearance. She expected more bat-like and less…creepy.

"I told him that we needed help in tracking Henshaw and Cadmus, and even without his crime fighting skills, he has one of the most brilliant minds on the planet." Kal said, hoping Kara would warm up to him. Bruce was an acquired taste, as he knew only too well, but he had a niggling suspicion that Kara would like him. With how little she'd explained of what happened on Earth-1, it seemed Bruce and this Oliver would be similar characters.

"I promised your cousin that if he ever needed me, I'd be there. I protect the weak and serve justice, and this Henshaw character sounds like he needs to be stopped." Batman said, looking Supergirl up and down. He'd followed her exploits on the news after she revealed herself and he had hoped that like with Clark, he'd be able to team up with her on a mission one day. He wanted to see if she was anything like her cousin.

"So, what do you know of Cadmus and Hank?" Kara asked Bruce, because with brawn she knew both she and Kal were more than a match, and in brains she was sure Winn would be up to the task.

"I know they're ran by Lillian Luthor, Hank is a cybernetically enhanced assassin now for them, and that they're a threat to everyone simply due to their methods." Batman stated. He wanted to be clear, concise and ready to go. They didn't have time to go over everything in Cadmus' history. He knew about them and he knew the two Kryptonian's knew about them, they needed to focus on tracking Henshaw, and once they had him, they could find Cadmus and stop them.

"Hank won't be an easy fight." Kara warned, hoping Batman knew just what he was getting himself into. "I fought him single-handedly and would have been dead had he not got distracted, and, no offence, but I'm pretty sure I'm stronger than you are."

"None taken, I'm aware of your history, and I have taken measures to ensure he would not best me in single combat. I have a wide array of tools at my disposal to even the playing field, I am certain I could help you defeat him, or even take him myself if required." Batman stated, he wasn't trying to boast to Kara, he had prepared for this, he knew he could handle Hank alone if needed.

"Do we have any leads on where Hank might strike next?" Kal asked, hoping the DEO may have found something whilst he was recruiting Bruce to this cause.

"None yet, but we've got every available agent looking for him. Once we have a hit, we'll take him." Kara sighed. She wished she had some more concrete answers for Kal, but for now, they were flying blind in regards to Cadmus' next move. Since Lillian had been freed without the testimony of Supergirl as to her involvement, and the fact the DEO was no longer able to hold human prisoners as it had with Maxwell Lord _._ Luthor had been freed after stewing for a few weeks. She'd gone underground, and not even Lena knew where she was now. Until Cadmus made its next move to try and wipe out all alien life on the planet, they were in the reeds with this one.

"I can have my satellites try and trace any suspected Cadmus activity." Batman stated. "Combined with your DEO, I hope we can quickly find where these rats are hiding and flush them out."

"Your satellites?" Kara asked, not having used her x-ray vision to see who was under the cowl.

"I'm sorry, Kara, I forgot to introduce you properly." Kal rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Kara, this is Bruce Wayne, AKA Batman. Bruce, this is Kara Zor-El, my cousin."

"Wow, you're THE Bruce Wayne, the biggest competitor to Maxwell Lord?"

"The same, do you know Lord?" Bruce asked.

"Let's just say we're not friends." Kara put bluntly.

"I'll be happy to give you all the help I can." Bruce stated. "Cadmus is a threat to all of us, even if they claim to be only targeting aliens, and I won't stop until they're gone."

"Well we'll be grateful for all the help we can get." Kara smiled. It would hopefully be over much quicker with the help of Wayne Enterprises.

"We'll start by searching the sites he's attacked and see what patterns come up, such as if the places are close to one another, or if they all research the same things, and try to figure where he'll go next from that." Batman said, taking charge of the investigation like a natural.

“Kara, can we talk for a minute?” Kal asked, gesturing to the open sky light above. Nodding, she flew up, him close behind, leaving Bruce in the warehouse for now.

“What’s the matter, Clark?”

“Just don’t get too tangled up with Bruce. He has a history, especially when it comes to women.” Clark explained.

“What? Me and him?” Kara asked, laughing. “Do you think I’d be interested in him?”

“I know you’re not now, but I’ve heard stories about just how charismatic Bruce can be, I just want you to be careful, make sure it stays as just working together to find Cadmus.” Kal told her.

“It will do.” Kara said to him, still cracking up slightly. She had just met the guy, it wasn’t like she would ever fall for a guy in a day.

‘Except for Barry.’ Kara’s inner monologue told her, as she told the voice to shut it.

“So, shall we get going, Mr Wayne?” Kara asked, as she returned to the warehouse.

/

“Found him!” Bruce said as he went through records and Cadmus personnel.

"Where?" Kara asked, hurrying over to where Bruce was hunched over a monitor. They'd spent the better part of three days going over all the records they could as well as exploring all of the leads they had on known Cadmus agents or on Hank Henshaw.

"He's been spotted heading into the CatCo building. I'm not sure why he'd want a media outlet when Cadmus has their own propaganda machine, but if we have a lead on him, a solid one this time, I say we take him down." Batman counselled.

"Let's go." Kal said as the three of them got ready to head off. J'onn would be standing by with the DEO and they would sweep in and clean up the mess afterwards, with both Kryptonians along with the Batman on him, Hank Henshaw would soon be stopped.

As Kara and Kal got to CatCo they saw the people running from the building and hearing the screams from the upper floors.

"I'll take the other side of the building, you go upto Cat's office!" Kal called as Kara flew up to see if she could engage Hank. Rising into the air she tried to use her X-Ray vision, seeing part of the building where her gaze couldn't penetrate, she knew that had to be where Hank was.

"Kal, he's coated in lead!" Kara called out to her cousin, to alert him that he wouldn't show up on x-ray visions.

Kara flew onto the balcony of Cat Grant's former office to see James, holding a woman behind his desk and keeping their heads down. When he saw her, he gave her a weak smile.

"Supergirl! Thank God you're back in town!" James called to her quietly as the woman behind the desk weakly sobbed. "Where have you been?"

"Let's just say I was out of town." She sheepishly replied. "What happened here?"

"Cyborg Superman started smashing up the place, demanding that we hand over all of our records to him to take them back to Cadmus. I refused and he attacked people, plenty ran, I grabbed the nearest person I could and brought her here, to protect someone at least." James stated, wondering where Kara could have been to have taken so long. He knew she was back already from Kal, and thought she needed space, which is why he hadn't pursued her before now. Now he wondered if this was a mistake to wait.

"Don't worry, just help get people to safety, I'll take care of him." Kara promised, sending a grateful smile to him and a small blush at the thought of James being a hero. She still had feelings for James, regardless of her thoughts about Barry, and she knew he loved her still. She just wasn't sure if she had time for a relationship right now, and even if she did, she wasn't sure she wanted to be with him.

Kara stood up and walked out of the office, a calm look on her face as she watched James cover the shaking employee with his own body. She knew the woman would be in safe hands as she looked over to see where Hank was destroying the computers, he hadn't noticed her yet it seemed.

"Hey! Hank Henshaw may have been a dick, but at least he was a human one!" Kara called as Cyborg Superman turned and fixed her with a hateful gaze.

"So, you're alive." He stated, as he began to break into a run racing towards her.

"Now!" Kara yelled as she fired her heat vision at him, another beam hitting Hank from the window as Kal arrived outside, as Hank snarled at the heat of the two Kryptonian's, melting his arm and burning the skin off of him, he began to retreat, until suddenly bullets flew through the air, whistling as they made contact with his body, he fell forward with a grunt of pain as Batman attacked him from behind.

"Not so tough now, are you?" Kara asked as Hank lay on the floor, moaning, he turned himself over to give her a look of pure malice.

"I may have lost this battle, but you alien freaks and your friends have lost this war." He spat at her as Kal flew over to her and grabbed Hank in one arm, gesturing for Kara to grab his other arm. It was time to take Hank to the DEO and pump him for information on Cadmus and their plans. Afterwards, over to the authorities for a trial with the crimes he'd committed in the name of Cadmus.

"Thank you, Batman, without you, who knows what Hank could have done." Kal smiled gratefully at his friend. It seemed a lot easier with Bruce's help….almost too easy. Kal frowned at the idea of this being a trap, there was no-one else here helping Hank and he was defeated, this was it, it was over. Soon Cadmus would fall and the world would be safe, he knew it.


	14. Trickster Trickery

As Barry wandered the streets of Central City, watching the snow falling all around him, he wondered for the millionth time in recent days why was it that life seemed to hate him the last few years? Oliver had once said the bolt of lightning had chosen him, it seemed more like it was a punishment some days. Sure, he had super speed and amazing friends, but he had no parents, any woman he loved either seemed to leave him or had the threat of being killed, and on top of it all, all the recent threats, such as the Dominators or Savitar, seemed to be of his making, it was like he could do nothing right.

'If only Kara was here sometimes, having a super-powered alien with a lot more powers than me would be a boon sometimes.' Barry wistfully thought to himself as he wondered what she was doing back home. Probably saving the world again from evil metahumans or stopping an asteroid from destroying National City.

As Barry walked his phone began to ring, looking down and seeing the name he answered.

"What's going on?"

"Barry, we've got readings from Central City Bank, they're under attack." Cisco stated. "We need you to get here and get ready."

"On my way." Barry said, ensuring the street was empty before racing off towards S.T.A.R labs. As he got there and got changed he noticed Cisco's frown.

"Cisco? You ok?" Barry asked him.

"Oh? Yeah I'm fine….go get them." Cisco stated before trailing off and looking blankly into space. Barry shook his head, he'd talk to Cisco once he got back. Racing off, he rushed over to the bank to find himself face to face with one of his old enemies.

"Hello Speedy, what took you so long?" The deranged face of the Trickster laughed as Barry arrived.

"Trickster! How did you escape prison this time?" Barry asked, wanting to put this guy away again quickly.

"I'll let you in on the secret, if you do me a quick favour first?" Trickster asked, his deranged eyes narrowed in focus on Barry.

"I'm going to take you down anyway, Trickster, may as well make it easy on yourself."

"Now that's no fun Flash, surely you've got a sense of humour, love a trick, as it were?" Trickster laughed to himself.

"What is it, Trickster?" Barry asked, wondering what Trickster had up his sleeve this time and how to quickly negate it.

"Well..." Trickster stated before he quickly grabbed Barry's wrist and threw a powdery substance over him. As Barry began to cough as the power reached his face, he started to feel an itching sensation over his body.

"What is this? Itching powder?" He called out as he began to scratch himself and cough.

"Not just itching powder, but patented itching powder." Trickster laughed before he rushed over and punched Barry in the chest, knocking him to the floor. "Not only does it itch further the more you scratch, but it has a special quality when inhaled, if you don't deal with it soon, speedy, well you'll be gone as quickly as you came." Trickster giggled to himself as Barry struggled to get to his feet, the police closing in on the building.

"See you later Flash." Trickster ran towards the back of the bank as the police converged, knowing he needed this dealt with now, Barry raced as fast as he could back towards S.T.A.R, coughing and falling several times along the way, despite knowing he shouldn't, he kept scratching himself, before he got into the lab and collapsed on the nearest table.

"Cisco! Caitlin! Help!" Barry yelled as Cisco rushed into the room to help Barry out of his suit.

"We heard what Trickster said, Caitlin is trying to find a cure for it already." Cisco stated.

"Got any ideas of what could help?" Barry said.

"None yet but we're bound to find something before too long, don't sweat it." Cisco said, looking around the lab. Barry saw this and a frown appeared on his face.

"Hey, Cisco, you ok man?" Barry asked as he tried to refrain from scratching himself again, vibrating to keep his skin occupied, as he did so, he noticed his coughing seemed to stop and a fine powder seemed to float in the air from his skin.

"Yeah I'm fine….wait, how come we didn't think of that?" Cisco stated, seeing the powder rising from Barry.

"I didn't expect this to work, I just wanted to try alleviate the itching." Barry muttered as Caitlin walked into the room, ready to update Barry on their search and seeing it rising.

"I'm sorry Barry, I didn't think of getting you to vibrate to get rid of the powder." Caitlin bashfully stated, not believing she hadn't considered such a fix to the idea.

"It's ok, Caitlin, really." Barry smiled. "I gotta dash guys and stop Trickster, but I want to speak to you later Cisco." He frowned at Cisco who tried to avoid his eyes. "Listen, man, I know you've not been yourself since the thing with Savitar the other week, we should talk about what happened."

"Its fine, Barry, really." Cisco bluntly stated as he walked out of the room, Caitlin flashing Barry an apologetic smile as she rushed off to see if he was ok. Barry sighed, wondering how he could make Cisco see they cared for him and wanted to help him, before rushing off himself. Trickster was going down.

As Barry raced towards the last known location of the Trickster, he knew he would not fail to bring down this dangerous criminal. Barry raced towards the last known hideout of the Trickster, hoping against hope that there would be some clue there as to his whereabouts. When he got inside, he sped around the block a few times to suss out the place and case the environment, once he saw it was clear, he sneaked over to the side entrance and stealthily entered the building, hoping the Trickster hadn't booby trapped every single door in the place.

Fortunately for Barry, it seemed the Trickster either wasn't home, or had gotten lax lately, the door wasn't trapped and he slipped into the warehouse. Looking around the place, he noticed several old newspaper clippings on the floors and dusty cobwebs hanging from the ceilings. Trickster hadn't been there for months, clearly.

"Guys, we got any leads on where he might have gone?" Barry asked into his comms.

"I'm looking at tracking the trail that itching powder makes." Caitlin replied to him. "Cisco is still…occupied." She finished lamely.

"Look into it Caitlin, what about Wally, is he ready to suit up?" Barry asked. It'd be nice to have backup from Kid Flash on this one, a good way to break him in rather than letting him try his mettle for the first time properly against Savitar and possibly risk his life needlessly.

"Wally's out of town, he went with Joe and Iris to visit some extended family in Coast City." Caitlin reminded him. "You've taken him alone before when you weren't as prepared and weren't as fast, you've got this Barry." She encouraged her old friend as he got ready to take Trickster out.

"We got a fix on him then yet Caitlin?" He asked as he waited to see where to race off too.

"Got it, the trail from it leads to an abandoned warehouse just north of the river, about 5 miles from your location. Satellite imagery shows there's only one heat signature in the building, doesn't look like its booby trapped, but be careful Barry." Caitlin asked him.

"I always am Cait." Barry finished with a grin as he raced towards where Caitlin directed him, finding the abandoned warehouse, he snuck into a side door, seeing the lights turned on, Barry slunk against the side wall towards a raised platform on the other side of the room, where he could see the Trickster hunched over a table, sparks flying from a workbench.

Barry approached cautiously as he heard the Trickster mumbling to himself.

"That goes there, this goes here, tighten it up a bit here…"

As Barry stepped out behind him, suddenly the Trickster burst out into laughter.

"I wondered if you'd come, Speedy. Surprised you managed to shake off the powder." Trickster laughed some more as he turned around to face Barry, his face gaunt and pale, his eyes bloodshot.

"What's happening to you?" Barry asked aloud, shocked at the appearance. A few hours ago, the man looked fine.

"Oh this? You like it? I'm trying out a new look." Trickster laughed before he began to cough himself, specks of blood flying to the floor from his mouth.

Barry watched in horror as the Trickster began to cough more and more, blood falling from his lips, he rushed over to Trickster to grab him as the man's knees buckled and he fell to the floor.

"Didn't expect this, did you Flash? Guess even the Trickster got tricked by his own inventions in the end. Whoops." The man let out another giggle before another coughing fit hit him.

"We can get you to the hospital, they can do something!" Barry cried out. He may not like the Trickster and the man may be a danger to everyone in Central City, but nobody deserved to die like this, and he needed to pay for his crimes against the city.

"Too late, not even you're fast enough to save me, speedy." He coughed out one last time before shuddering and falling limp in Barry's arms, his eyes closing for the last time.

"Barry? Barry, you there?" Caitlin's voice spoke into Barry's earpiece.

"Yeah…I'm here." Barry stated, coming out of his shock.

"You catch him? I see one of the heat signatures starting to fade a little." She stated, worried.

"He's dead, Cait. Whatever he did, it backfired on him. He died in my arms." Barry broke away.

"It's ok, Barry. It wasn't your fault and the people of Central City are safe from the Trickster now. You did good." Caitlin soothed in his ear. She hoped Barry wouldn't blame himself, he couldn't protect everyone and sometimes people died. She knew that he should get that by now, but he always seemed to blame himself.

"I'm on my way back, notify CCPD that they can find the Trickster here, he died from his own poisonous powder." Barry stated as he raced off back towards S.T.A.R labs, he still needed that talk with Cisco, and he needed to freshen up. It was time to let the Trickster go for good, he couldn't win them all, but this one, despite how hollow it was, he'd take this as a win. Trickster couldn't hurt anyone ever again, and Barry would be happy to just accept that.

As Barry raced back towards S.T.A.R labs he failed to notice the hooded figure lurking in the shadows on the outside of the building. The figure looked as the Flash zoomed into the building, a smirk on his lips as he saw Barry race inside.

"Soon enough my time will be at hand, the final pieces are falling into place. Before long, I will be ready. My ally will open the way between the worlds with his speed, and once Savitar merges our worlds together, I will prove there is only one Flash. The Reverse Flash."


End file.
